In this post, we'll discuss when and how to aerate your lawn, to ensure only the best practices are made for Utah lawns.

When Should I aerate?

Aerating is when you remove plugs of soil from your lawn. Especially if your lawn is hard and compact. This is done so better oxygen, h20, and other nutrients gain more easily gain access to the soil and help the grass stay healthy. In Utah, we typically have cool season grass for our lawns, and so the absolute best time to aerate a lawn is in the Fall time period. But aerating in the Spring is okay too, as long as grass is still growing, can fill in, and heal itself after aerating, this should be done early Spring.

If you're unsure about your grass type or if you have questions about if your lawn is considered as a "cool season grass" here's a list:

Creeping bentgrass
Fescue (chewings, hard, red, tall)
Kentucky bluegrass
Rough bluegrass
Ryegrass (annual, perennial)

Here are some more accurate timing tips for the autumn time aeration:

When you know you’re going to aerate, do so just prior to fertilizing or reseeding your lawn. Aeration creates openings for nutrients and seed to penetrate soil.
Control weeds prior to aerating, because the process of aerating can spread weed seeds or portions of weedy roots.
Wait for at least a year to aerate newly planted lawns, so that grass is well established.
Aerate when soil is moist, but not saturated. The tines of a lawn aerator penetrate moist soil more deeply; soil that’s too wet clogs tines. To achieve the correct moisture balance, your lawn should absorb 1 inch of water – delivered through rainfall or irrigation – prior to aerating. This may mean you’ll water for one hour one day prior to aerating or, if your soil is hard, for shorter times on several days prior to aerating.
Avoid aerating during drought or high heat. If you aerate in these conditions, you’ll stress the lawn by allowing heat to dry soil.

How Do I Aerate my Lawn?

You can either hire out a lawn care company, such as NarrowLeaf Landscapes to come do all the work necessary for your aeration needs. Or you can also rent an aerator from your local hardware store for approximately $60+ for the first four hours. Typically, you can get a better deal through a lawn or landscaping company to do the work for you because they either own or rent themselves but can charge less because they're doing multiple lawns at once.

For more information about aerating a lawn in Ogden, Utah call us at (385) 245-9052.