Dethatch or Aerate: Bring Your Lawn Back Next Year!

With summer, it's time to focus on the recovery of your lawn to ensure that your lawn is back in full force in the coming spring. The most effective methods for achieving this are to dethatch and aerate as well as seed the lawn. Once you know why these steps are crucial and how to do them, you'll be able to have an attractive lawn for the years to follow.

Dethatching Your Lawn

The majority of lawns have zones where grass dies just below the soil. This is known as thatch. The dead grass layer is beneficial in small quantities. But if it builds over time, it blocks air and water from getting to the turf and may result in a widespread brown patch.

How Should You Dethatch Your Lawn?

Dethatching is a method of mechanical removal that eliminates the impeding lawn dead grass to create a better, healthier lawn. It's the right time to consider dethatching when more than half an inch of dead grass has grown up and is beginning to weaken your lawn.

General dethatching advice:

• Make sure to water your lawn every day before you decide to cut it.
• Cut your lawn at a half-inch height.
• Sprinkler heads that are flagged as well as other objects hidden to avoid harming them.
• Dethatch with two different directions, at 90 degrees from each other.
• If you notice thatching leaves with exposed spots, you should reseed your lawn.
• Make sure to water the lawn regularly to encourage the grass to recover.
• In the future, you should aerate your garden regularly to keep from the accumulation of thatch.

Dethatching your lawn using an angled rake

If you're only dealing with one small area of grass that is affected, the convex rake can be an effective tool to remove thatch. It is able to remove thatch as thick as 1 inch without putting too much strain on your lawn. The rake is specially designed with sharpened tines that can rip thatch off the soil's surface.

If you want to dethatch using the help of a convex rake, use the same method as traditional raking. Incorporate the tines into the thatch and pull them upwards to release it. Then lift it from the soil.

Dethatching your lawn is easy with the power rake

For bigger spaces, it is likely that you will need a power rake, which is often referred to as a vertical cut or verticutter. You can hire an electric rake from the hardware store if you are looking to tackle the task yourself.

Make sure you inquire whether the blades are set up correctly for your particular type of grass. Also, request the rental company to alter the cutting height so that blades don't go further than one-half of an inch deep of soil they do so.

Be aware that the equipment is large and will require some muscles to move. Also, you'll need an automobile to bring it to your house as well as a second person who can assist in loading and unloading it.

Aerating Your Lawn

As time passes, the soil will naturally shrink. Aeration allows the soil to have the air as well as nutrients and water to flow into the grassroots. It also eliminates the mild thatch. This aids in the growth of roots and makes the lawn stronger and drought-resistant. Your lawn may have to be aerated every year in the event of high foot traffic.

How to Aerate Your Lawn?

There are two tools you can choose from to complete the task that is available: a spike aerator or the plug aerator. While it is possible to create holes in the soil using an aerator spike, it does not eliminate soil and could result in increased compaction around the holes.

For best results, you should use an aerator plug, which takes out grass plugs and soil between 2 and 3 inches thick in depth and 0.5 or 0.75 inches in width. You can lease this type of equipment from any garden shop should you decide to complete the task yourself.

Aerating your lawn:

• Make sure to water your lawn every day before the date you'll aerate your soil.
• One pass is enough for the entire lawn. Make several passes on small areas.
• The soil plugs you excavated to dry and break them apart using a lawn mower or with the side of a bristle.
• Maintain the basic lawn maintenance practices such as mowing, fertilizing and watering.