Aeration

Why do you need to aerate your lawn?

Healthy grass needs a deep root structure in good draining, uncompacted soil. Over time soil will become compacted from heavy/regular use dry or wet conditions; eventually limiting nutrients, air and water from reaching the grass roots, leading to an unhealthy lawn. Aeration is a vital annual process to help rectify these issues.

In the local area, clay soil is predominant. This is both good and bad. In dry/hot conditions clay soil retains water better than free draining/sandy soil. However, in wet/Winter conditions clay soil usually means water logging and impacting the grassroots as well as increasing soil compaction. Aeration can assist with surface drainage but it not a remedy for waterlogged lawns. 

Our Aeration types explained:

We can provide fracture, solid and hollow tine aeration depending on what your lawn requires to improve it's condition, using professional mechanical aeration machinery that's designed for domestic lawns. Don't worry about the technicalities as we will explain and advise the most beneficial type of aeration for your lawn.

Fracture tine aeration is well suited and most commonly used for the clay based soils in the local area, as well as sandy or chalky soils. It's highly effective in relieving soil compaction. It creates a deep narrow slit in the soil to allow oxygen moisture and nutrients to enter the root zone without producing messy soil cores. The tine's offset cutting action slightly heaves the soil, creating micro cracks and fissures in the soil surrounding the slit, further enhancing the process. Best done when lawn soil has reasonable moisture, usually September - Feb depending on weather and individual lawn conditions.

Hollow tine aeration is typically used where the soil is heavily compacted under a heavy thatch/moss infested lawn. We typically do this as part of our lawn renovation services. It removes small cylindrical cores of soil from your lawn. The holes created allow the surrounding soil to relax into the space, thus over the entire lawn area means less compacted. Best done when lawn soil has reasonable moisture, usually September - Feb depending on weather and individual lawn conditions. On heavy clay soils we typically recommend solid or slit/fracture tine aeration. 

Solid tine aeration is highly versatile and can be carried out most of the year. It uses small pencil width tines that spike the lawn. It does not leave any messy cores to clear up either. It's great for penetrating the top surface layer of soil to allow for more air, water and nutrients to reach the grass roots. Especially useful prior to overseeing or where there is no benefit from fracture tine or hollow tine aeration.

Aeration Key features:

• Long lasting benefits for your lawn
• Improves soil structure
• Reduces soil compaction 
• Allows more water, nutrients and air to reach the soil/grass roots
• Helps soil microbial activity
• Increased drought tolerance
• Provides ideal seed bed when over seeding
• Grass can become more healthy and denser
• Improves lawns overall health and appearance