lawn aeration
By john, on May 25th, 2009
We’ve been in our house since 1997. About two years after we moved in I paid a landscaper to put in a new lawn. The first few years the lawn looked great. I dutifully mowed and fertilized in the spring and fall every year. Then one year it fell victim to grubs and then the skunks dug it up looking for the grubs. This began a several year period where I would rake the thatch every fall and reseed, see the lawn look good in the spring only to dry and weaken over the summer months. Gradually even the healthiest parts of the lawn began looking stressed and my lawn would be largely crab grass by August.

Last fall I once again dutifully raked and overseeded and started this year with a healthy new crop of grass. Rather than doing the insane thing (i.e. the same thing but expecting different results) I decided to aerate the lawn and rake in some organic material. I rented an aerator for $50 (plus $40 delivery charge) and finished up in about an hour. I then took several bags of peat moss and distributed it over the lawn. I raked the peat moss out and as a final step, I applied a light layer of fertilizer. So far the results are great but the proof will be if it still looks decent in August.
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