Should You Consider Lawn Aeration This Spring?

Your grass pulls its nutrients from the soil in order to live and grow. However, if the soil is compacted, your turf can starve. Soil compaction is one of the most common lawn issues that Georgia homeowners face. It deprives your grass of the oxygen, nutrients and water it needs while also preventing carbon dioxide to be released from the ground. Fortunately, there is a treatment solution called lawn aeration.

Aerating your lawn involves pulling up small plugs of soil that are left there to dissolve the next time your lawn gets water. You can think of it as giving your soil a chance to finally breathe. Carbon dioxide can be released as it should while sunlight, oxygen and water can penetrate the soil. Aeration combined with overseeding can revive a lawn that has been suffocated by soil compaction.

Benefits of Lawn Aeration

One of our landscaping experts can help you determine when your specific grass type should be aerated. There are several turf varieties that gain the following benefits from a lawn aeration service that is scheduled in the spring:

• Makes your turf thicker, more dense
• Improves soil’s ability to hold moisture, less risk for drought stress
• Reduces thatch (layer of roots, stems and debris) between soil and turf
• Helps your fertilizer work better
• Fosters deeper root system and less risk for erosion/water runoff

Is Your Soil Compacted?

It is important to recognize when your soil is compacted or headed in that direction so that you can intervene and save your turf.

Gardening Know How lists some common warning signs of compacted soil:

• Pooling or puddling of water in low areas
• Water running right off the soil in high areas
• Stunted growth of plants
• Shallow rooting of trees
• Bare areas where even weeds or grass will not grow
• Areas too hard to drive a shovel or trowel in the soil

Are you concerned that your soil is compacted and may compromise your spring lawn? Schedule a core aeration service with our experts at Pannone’s Lawn Pros & Landscaping .