The Benefits of Aeration for Your Lawn
You might know that your lawn isn’t looking as healthy as it could be. But that doesn’t mean you know how to solve the problem. Aimlessly purchasing lawn health products from your local garden centre isn’t always the answer. But do you know what might be? Aeration.
Lawn aeration involves poking small holes into your lawn to let air, nutrients, and water travel to the roots. You might enjoy many of these astounding benefits when you add lawn aeration to your weekend to-do list:
No More Compaction
Soil compaction has a lot to answer for. When the soil layers underneath your grass are packed closely together, there are very few openings for essential nutrients, water, and oxygen. Without these crucial goodies, your grass roots can grow shallow and malformed. Eventually, your grass can start to discolour, succumb to diseases, and die.
Soil aeration can be a game-changer for homeowners struggling with soil compaction. By poking small holes into the lawn with an aeration tool, you can let water and nutrients flow freely for robust and healthy grass.
Better-Looking Grass
When you look at your neighbour’s bowling green-like lawns, do you become the green-eyed monster? You can have that desirable lush, green grass when you spend time aerating it. As the roots spread out and strengthen, your lawns can grow more densely, resulting in thicker and greener foliage. Before long, it can be your neighbour looking at your grass with envy.
Increased Disease Resistance
Soil compaction weakens your lawn’s root system. A weakened root system can make your grass more susceptible to common lawn diseases like brown patch, dollar spot, and crown rust. However, when you spend time aerating your lawn, it now has access to all the oxygen, nutrients, and water it needs. This is a recipe for disease resistance and health!
Better Weed Control
Most of us don’t love spending our free time pulling weeds out of the lawn. Frustratingly, it can even seem like as soon as you’ve gotten rid of the weeds, more show up to take their place! Why not let your lawn take care of its own weed control?
When you aerate the soil to promote healthier grass growth, there can be less room for weeds to grow. A thick, dense patch of lawn says ‘no room at the inn’ to those pesky weeds.
Drought Tolerance
Summers can be intense here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Depending on where you live, you can go several days or weeks without decent rainfall. Grass won’t last forever without rain or regular watering, but aeration undoubtedly makes it more robust to last the distance.
Remember, soil compaction causes your grass to grow shallow roots. When you address the soil compaction issue, those roots grow longer and can access moisture further into the ground.
Reduced Runoff
Our lawns can only handle so much water when it rains before it starts puddling on the surface. However, you’re bound to notice far more surface flooding with compacted soil. Layers of tightly packed dirt let in far less water than porous, well-aerated soil.
After spending time aerating your soil, you’re bound to notice a difference. The more porous your soil is, the more water it can absorb!
Water Savings
Many proud gardeners don’t like watching their lawns suffer in the warmer weather. Before water restrictions are imposed, they set up sprinklers and spend time watering their grass to give it a chance to make it through the drought conditions.
You might enjoy incredible water savings by setting aside time for soil aeration. Well-aerated soil and grass with longer root structures typically need less water than shallow-rooted grass in compact soil.
More Helpful Critters
We don’t look after our lawns on our own. Beneficial organisms like aerobic bacteria, earthworms, and soil insects often give us a helping hand. These critters can set off to greener pastures when the soil is too compacted for them to enjoy. However, you might be welcoming them back with open arms when you aerate your soil. These organisms thrive in oxygen-rich soil and can be crucial for your overall soil health.
Increased Street Appeal
Proud homeowners want their properties to stand out for all the right reasons – whether they’re on the market for sale or not. That can be challenging when your lawn looks a little worse for wear. Spending time aerating your soil to get it back in tip-top shape can undoubtedly help with street appeal.
Need Help With Lawn Aeration?
There are plenty of lawn aeration tools on the market, but not everyone has the time or energy for this lawn care task! If you need a hand with lawn aeration, contact the experts for help. There are plenty of lawn mowing and yard care experts near you ready to get stuck in and help you achieve that perfectly lush, green lawn.