The way our lawns look is a key part of the first impression people get of our homes. Whether or not you have a nice lawn can make or break your home’s curb appeal. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that maintaining a healthy and attractive lawn is something most of us would like to do.
Fertilization and aeration are two of the most important things you can do to encourage healthy grass growth. And they work together, since if your lawn isn’t aerated the nutrients in your fertilizer will have a hard time getting down to the grass’s roots. Paired with a regular schedule of watering and lawn mowing, fertilizing a couple of times and aerating once a year will help keep your grass growing well and looking nice.
How Fertilizing and Aerating Work Together
As lawns experience foot traffic and watering, the sod becomes increasingly compact. Even the simple act of lawn mowing will eventually pack the soil together. And the more tightly packed the soil is, the less water and nutrients reach grass roots.
If your lawn soil becomes compacted, there’s less space between the soil particles for water and nutrients to get down to your grass’s roots. This will limit the effectiveness of your fertilization routine and make it harder for water to get into the soil without just running off the surface of your yard.
Yearly aeration removes plugs of soil and stimulates healthy lawn growth. You can rent or purchase easy-to-use lawn equipment designed for this task. Then when you fertilize, the soil will be open enough for the nutrients to get down to the grass’s roots and help your lawn grow nice and healthy.
Aerating a Texas Lawn
You’ll want to aerate your lawn once a year. Warm-season grasses, such as Bermudagrass and Zoysia, should be aerated when the grass is actively growing in April through June. For Texas lawns, you’ll probably have warm-season grass but if you’re growing a cool-season grass like bluegrass or fescue you’ll want to aerate in the fall as the weather starts to cool. If you miss the fall window for aerating, you can aerate a cool-season lawn in early spring before applying the first fertilizers.
If you’re fertilizing close to the same time you’re aerating, be sure to aerate before applying the fertilizer. Also, you should water the lawn a day or two before aerating (or aerate a day or two after it rains).
Aside from making sure you’re aerating at the right time, using the right equipment is the most important thing you can do to aerate your lawn well. You don’t want to use spike aerators that just poke holes in the soil. You want to get a mechanical core aerator. Core aerators are typically walk-behind pieces of lawn equipment that remove regularly spaced plugs of sod from the lawn. You can leave the removed cores on the lawn to dry, then rake them into the grass.
Options for Fertilization
You can feed a lawn with compost, chemical fertilizer, or a combination of both. They’ll all work, and every method is most effective when paired with lawn aeration.
Whether you choose natural or synthetic fertilizer, avoiding over-fertilization is just as important as choosing the right fertilizer. Putting too much fertilizer on your lawn can weaken the grass. On top of that, if you’re using chemical fertilizers there’s a good chance that over fertilizing will negatively impact the environment.
If you want to use compost, you can purchase pre-composted material or make your own using yard trimmings, kitchen scraps, and other organic matter. Compost contains micronutrients not always found in chemical fertilizers and it helps balance pH levels for a healthy lawn. Click here to read our article “Composting 101 – A Simple Guide For Getting Started”. Existing lawns benefit from 1/4 to 1/2 inch of compost applied every year.
You can use commercially available chemical lawn fertilizers instead of or in addition to compost. It’s usually best to apply them twice a year near the beginning or end of your local growing season but be sure to follow the directions on your fertilizer’s label.
It is a good idea to have your lawn tested to see what nutrients are needed, but in most situations you can safely apply a balanced fertilizer according to label directions without the extra expense of a lawn test. For an in-depth look at choosing a fertilizer for warm-season grasses, check out this article from Texas A&M University.
Equipment for Fertilizing and Aerating
For dry fertilizers, it’s best to apply them using a spreader. This will ensure that you get even coverage over the lawn’s surface. We carry several types of spreaders here at Richardson Saw & Lawnmower for both homeowner and professional use (click here to check them out).
Since you’re only going to be aerating once a year, homeowners will probably find that it makes sense for them to rent an aerator instead of buy one. If you’re aerating lawns for multiple clients, though, you may want to buy one for your lawn care business. Click here to see the aerators and lawn renovation tools we offer.
Fertilization and aeration are keys to maintaining a healthy lawn. Yearly attention to these simple tasks promotes healthy grass and contributes to a beautiful lawn to enhance your home. Having the right equipment for each of these tasks makes them much easier, and we can help you get that. If you have any questions, just contact us or stop by our location in Richardson to chat with one of our experts.
