For many of us, the lawn is a fine feature and without it, the garden will look very bare. It plays a major role in adding to the tranquillity as well as the practical features of the garden. However, lawn aeration is vital if you want good, healthy looking grass. If you have grass full of weeds or something with patches in between, it won’t be very attractive, so you have to work on this.

Ideally, you want to enable a deeper root growth so that more water, nutrients and air can be drawn into the soil. Grass needs to be able to breathe and you need to allow it to go through this procedure. If you have a look at the before and after lawn aeration process, you will definitely see that it is worth the effort.

Just by taking out the weeds, you will be loosening up the soil and this is the first step. Just today I was doing this – I felt I had to, since the thorns were killing my feet. I could already feel the difference.  Weeding is a start, but you can also do things like fertilize. You can also take a pitch fork and give the lawn a couple of jabs.

If you have pets, all the better, because they will increase the process. Although, nobody likes digging in the garden, it does do a lot for the soil. People who have a poor quality of top soil will need to practice this lot more than others because it will help the cause.

Often you will find that builders leave a lot of mess. But, they will also remove all of your beautiful top soil and this will take a long time to return. However, especially think of lawn aeration after rain because this is going to really do a lot of good.

It will be a lot better if the soil is wet so either soak the lawn or wait until you have a heavy rainfall and let it absorb. It will be a lot easier to work with aerating tools because they will be able to dig into the soil.

The main lawn aeration purpose

• If you do this on a regular basis, you will find fewer weeds begin to develop.
• You will find your lawn easier to manage in times of droughts.
• You will improve the quality of the soil and the water will absorb easily.
• The grass will be a lot healthier.

Lawn aeration and over seeding

Some people are pedantic at using only organic fertilizers, and others are dead against it, so you have to decide for yourself. The most important thing is that your lawn is getting the adequate nutrients. You don’t have to stick to a particular brand, as long as you are using a certain amount of nitrogen, along with phosphorus as well as potassium.

A lot of people think that you simply need to plant the grass or throw some seeds down and watch your blades of grass rise to surface. Unfortunately, it does not always pan out that way. Your grass may grow, but to keep it nice and healthy, you have to maintain it, and this takes some effort, like with everything in life.

You need to aerate your lawn, fertilizing, watering, weeding as well as using top dressing soil. If you do all of this once in a while, you won’t have a problem. You will most likely end up with a very healthy looking lawn, which is what you should be after.

The necessities of top dressing soil

I have discussed a couple of things you need to know about your lawn, but now I’m going to focus on why top dressing soil and why it is important.

Basically, this is the good stuff that you are pressing down into the lawn and mixing in with the soil that has taken some beating. It will be able to retain moisture, so you won’t have to water quite so much. When a dry spell comes along, you will be prepared for that, because the soil will soak up the water and it won’t run off.

Over time, your lawn develops holes from foot traffic as well as those nasty moles. Even cats and dogs can be a problem. This is where top soil can be a good solution. It combats moss as well as other sorts of diseases. Anyone who is in charge of a sport field will not avoid this process, no matter how cumbersome it can be. The rewards are great.

The top dressing mixture to use should be combined with a loam, sand and peat. Usually you will have 1 part peat and three parts of the other to get the right mix. To be able to work properly, make sure your mixture is dry; otherwise you are going to struggle.

Use something that is used for top dressing. Ask your nursery about this, because you don’t want to get something that is the same as what you would use for a vegetable garden. There should be no seeds in there that would turn into weeds. This is important. It is handy to get to know the type of soil you have, because then you will know exactly what you need. For example a sandy type of soil will need more sand.

Learning to top dress the lawn is not a difficult process. For the best results, it is a good idea to aerate your lawn first. A week later you can start to dress the lawn. Make sure that you spread it evenly across your lawn. It should be about ¼ inch to ½ inch deep.

Do this with a spade and then use the back just to even it out. You are probably best off with the back of a rake to apply the finishing touches. The soil should fill all the holes in the lawn.