If your lawn is looking lackluster, despite watering and fertilizing, aeration and overseeding could be the missing piece of the puzzle. These two services go hand-in-hand because they are tried-and-true methods of restoring the appearance and vitality of turfgrass. Discover how aerating your lawn is a simple yet effective solution to lawn care.
What Is Core Aeration?
Core aeration is the best way to relieve your lawn of compacted soil. Core aeration is the process of removing “plugs” or “cores” of compacted soil and redistributing them across your lawn. This will open up the soil, allowing direct access to air, sunlight, water, and other essential nutrients to get directly down into the roots. Aeration will even help break up the thatch throughout your lawn, adding one more benefit to your lawn health. And don’t worry about those plugs! They are small enough that they will break down quickly and turn into natural mulch.
What Is Compacted Soil?
A big issue that your lawn may be facing after the long winter season is soil compaction. Soil compaction is hard, packed down soil, and can cause many problems for your lawn.
Causes Of Soil Compaction
- Heavy traffic across the lawn. This includes foot traffic, animal traffic, lawnmower or car traffic, and any heavy thing moving across your lawn. Heavy traffic is terrible when your lawn is wet.
- Leaving heavy objects out on your lawn.
- Having clay-heavy soil.
Lawn problems caused by compacted soil are very similar to the lawn problems caused by thatch. Air, water, and nutrients will have a tough time getting down to your grass root system. This can cause your grass to turn brown or yellow and eventually die.
Signs Of Compacted Soil
- Pooling water throughout your lawn.
- Heavy water run-off. Like pooling water, heavy water run-off indicates that your soil is compacted because the water can’t seep down into the earth.
- Thin or patchy areas in your grass.
- Your soil is hard to the touch, and it’s difficult to dig with a shovel.
When Should You Aerate Your Lawn?
Aeration is ideal in both spring and fall. Spring aeration is good because your lawn is just beginning its growing cycle. If your soil is too compacted, it’s difficult for the new seeds to push through 
that hard earth. Plus, lawn aeration services do more than break up the thatch. Without the compacted soil smothering grass, the nutrients can reach the grassroots to give them a boost. As we’ll discuss in the next section, overseeding works well with aeration because the seeds can utilize the plug holes to better establish in the lawn.
Benefits of Overseeding
Once you aerated your lawn, the next best step is to overseed. This is the process where new grass seed is deposited directly into the soil after it’s been aerated. This will patch up any areas of your lawn that are bare or browning. Overseeding your lawn will also improve the overall density and thickness of your grass. Aeration and overseeding are two services that go hand-in-hand. After aerating, you’ll have hundreds of little holes throughout your lawn. Perfect for throwing down some grass seed. You’ll need a seed spreader to do this. Make sure to spread seed in two directions and at right angles for maximum coverage. Or you can always hire the help of professionals who can get the job done faster!
Hire Professional Core Aeration Service Near Peachtree City, GA
If you’ve tried fertilizer or watering and your lawn still isn’t green, an aeration and overseeding application from Duncan’s Green Team can help. We are here to assist customers with lawn maintenance in south metro Atlanta. We’re experienced with the needs of both warm and cool-season grasses in Georgia’s lawns. To learn more about what we can do for your yard, or schedule an appointment, give us a call today at (770) 473-7700 or contact us below!