If you’re looking at a thin lawn that looks tired and worn out, you’re probably feeling a little at a loss. You might even be embarrassed if your lawn seems to be the scourge of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, a thin, faded, unhealthy lawn stands out next to a thick, green one.
Maybe you’ve even fertilized and watered and mowed, and your lawn still seems, well, just sad. Or in Central and Southern Maryland where tall fescue is the main grass species, maybe your lawn has reverted to a clumpy appearance.
While there are quite a few things that contribute to a lawn’s success, if you’re finding that everything else seems in place, but the lawn is still suffering, then aeration and seeding might be the solution you need.
Watch this video to learn more about lawn aeration and overseeding in Maryland.
When your lawn is tired, thin and even has developed bare spots, core aeration and overseeding can actually do quite a bit to revive your lawn.
Here’s how it works.
What is Lawn Aeration and Overseeding?
Core lawn aeration is the process of using a special machine called an aerator to pull small soil plugs or cores from your lawn.
The cores are pulled and deposited on the lawn. While it seems like such a simple task, what this does is allows your lawn to breathe. Lawn roots need three things to thrive: oxygen, water and nutrients.
Throughout time, the ground becomes compacted from water and foot traffic and just regular activity. Aeration breaks up this compaction. This is why if you notice you are fertilizing and your lawn isn’t responding, it’s because the nutrients can’t reach the lawn roots because of the compaction. After core aeration, your lawn can function better.
Overseeding, which is adding additional seed to your lawn to help fill in bare or thin spots, is ideally done immediately after aeration. This is because the seed to soil contact is highly optimal when these soil plugs have been removed. Seed thrown on top of a lawn that’s growing in compacted soil may not germinate, but germination rates greatly increase when you aerate first. In other words, why waste the money or time seeding if you can’t maximize the probability that that seed will turn into a nice lawn?
The Lawn Aeration Cores Do An Important Job
A lot of the time, when you first choose core aeration as a service, you might see these tiny soil plugs all across your lawn and wonder why it looks so weird and why your lawn care professional can’t just take them away.
Leaving the cores on your lawn is actually an important step in the process. The plugs are beneficial to increase germination success after seeding. In a short time of mowing and watering, the plugs break up and disappear into the grass and soil.
So a few days of soil plugs on your lawn is worth the benefit of a happier, healthier, better looking yard.
Does Aeration and Overseeding Work?
So the idea behind core lawn aeration probably sounds pretty plausible, but you might still be wondering if putting all these small holes in your lawn will actually make a big difference.
The answer is absolutely. In fact, if your lawn is underperforming, one of the easiest and quickest ways to change it is through aeration and seeding.
If you built a home in a newer subdivision, that soil is usually stripped of all its nutrients from the heavy traffic and construction. Aeration and seeding can help this tremendously, giving your plants something better to grow in. We can even add a top dressing, which is an addition of organic material that improves the soil profile with a boost in microbial activity. It’s like probiotics for the soil.
The optimum timing for this service is once a year in the fall when conditions are ripe for seed growth. But on lawns that need a lot of help, twice a year -- in spring and in fall -- can really get that soil back into good shape. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if your lawn is performing very well, then you might try every other year. But, in reality, this is probably only possible for 5 percent of the lawns in Central and Southern Maryland.
Now It's Time to Hire Lawn Aeration Services
So the answer to the question you’ve been pondering about aeration and seeding is, “Yes, it can work for you.” If you look at your lawn and think it’s looking a bit worn out, your decision to look into these services is a valid one.
Finding the right lawn care company who can assess the state of your lawn and give you some insight into how soon you’ll see the positive effects of aeration and overseeding is the next step.
Restoring a thin, beat up lawn is a challenge. In fact, you may feel like all you are left with is tearing the whole thing out and starting from scratch. Don’t do that. These two services can actually be just what you need to boost your lawn’s health and eliminate any more feelings of embarrassment or disappointment.
Worried about the work involved in returning your lawn back to its green, happy self? Natural Green is up for the challenge. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we’ll customize a plan that takes your lawn from drab to fab.
