Soil compaction is an issue for many Aussie homeowners. Soil can easily become compacted with regular foot traffic and once compacted can wreak havoc on your lawn. Many common lawn care issues are associated with compacted soil, drainage issues, fungal infections, dryness, and more weeds springing up. Soil compaction can be easily aided through aeration.
Aeration is an important part of lawn care; it should be performed annually depending on lawn and soil types. The best time to aerate is generally during your turfgrasses growth period. Warm season grasses such as Buffalo, Couch, Kikuyu and Zoysia should be aerated during spring/ summer, and cool season lawns such as Fescue and Ryegrass can be aerated year-round.
It is beneficial to aerate your lawn prior to fertilising to ensure your lawn properly absorbs the vitamins and nutrients in the fertiliser.
Aeration can be easily completed manually on smaller areas of grass. You can do this with aeration sandals (which you can buy from your local hardware store) or with a pitchfork by piercing the soil and gently wiggling it back and forth.
If you have a larger area of grass in need of aeration, you may need to have a contractor come and aerate it professionally. Although aeration is not a service we can offer, your local Coochie HydroGreen technician can provide professional advice on aeration and recommend some local contractors that can help you out!