What are the Benefits of Aerating Your Lawn in Winter?
Lush lawns do not emerge as a mere stroke of luck. Proud property owners with well-manicured lawns know and understand that achieving their goals entails a year-round commitment, even in winter.
During this season, there are a few lawn care tasks that you need to perform in order to ensure that your lawn looks great come summertime. These include the removal of weeds, fertilising, oversowing and soil aeration.
What is soil aeration and why do you have to do it?
Essentially, soil aeration is about perforating the soil on your lawn. The small holes created through aeration facilitate the penetration of air, water and vital nutrients down to the roots of the grass. In turn, when the grass’s roots receive an ample supply of these resources, it grows deeply and becomes more resilient.
Soil aeration is essential because it offers a remedy for one common problem lawn owners face: soil compaction. Soil compaction prevents the grass’s roots from receiving the essential resources these need for optimal growth. Combined with lawn thatch, compacted soil can starve the grass.
What are the signs that you need to aerate your lawn?
One of the main causes of soil compaction is the high amount of traffic on lawns. If your yard is often used by your kids and pets as a playground, this is one sign that you need to aerate your lawn.
If your home is newly constructed, you may also need to aerate your lawn. The main reason behind this is that the topsoil of new homes are usually stripped and it is highly likely that the subsoil has been compacted due to the high volume of traffic during the last stages of construction.
If there is soil layering in your lawn because it was recently established, you will need to aerate the soil to break up the layering and facilitate the optimal flow of water down to the roots.
If you do not notice any of these signs, it is best to aerate your lawn during winter.
One of the main problems that you will encounter during winter is the reduced water retention capacity of the soil which makes the lawn especially vulnerable during this time of the year. Aeration solves this problem by facilitating the optimal flow of the resources, especially water, down to the grass’s roots.
Additionally, aerating the soil after applying fertilisers for winter enables you to get more out of your application of the fertilisers as these get deep into the grass’s roots.
Jim’s Mowing can take care of all your garden needs, including aerating your lawn! Just call us on 131 546 or book online for a free no obligation quote!
