How and When to Aerate Your Lawn for Healthier Grass

You may know that your lawn needs watering, mowing, and fertilizing to look its best, but what You might not know is that aerating a lawn is also part of basic yard care. Although the job can be tedious, it's not difficult, and the benefits of aeration—green, healthy grass—make those few hours well spent.

There are several methods for how to aerate your lawn with various soil aeration tools such as aerator shoes and gas-powered machines, but whichever way you choose, the goal is to perforate your soil with small holes so that air and water can reach grass roots more easily. Here's what you need to know about how to aerate your lawn properly.

Why Aerate Your Lawn?

Over time, soil tends to compact and harden due to foot traffic, mowing, clay soil, or poor drainage. This prevents water, oxygen, and nutrients from reaching the hungry roots of your grass. As a result, the turf becomes thin, pale, or patchy.

Lawn aeration—making holes in the turf—breaks up hard soil so water and nutrients penetrate the grass roots more easily. The best lawn aerators come in two basic types:

• Spike aerators, which poke holes into the soil
• Plug aerators, which remove a plug of soil and grass

Both break up hardened ground, but lawn plug aerators are more effective.

When to Aerate the Lawn

The best time to use aeration equipment depends on your grass type. Cool-season grasses, such as fescue, bluegrass, or ryegrass, should be aerated in early spring or early fall. Warm-season turf, including Bermuda grass, zoysia, or St. Augustine, does best with aeration in the late spring. Whatever your type of grass, do not aerate the lawn within one year of planting grass seed or sod.

How to Aerate a Lawn by Hand (or Foot)

Large stretches of turf require gas-powered aerator tools, but if you have a fairly small patch of grass, a handheld (or worn-on-the-foot) aerator will work. There are several types of manual aerators.

• Aerator shoes have sharp spikes on the bottom. Just strap them on over your regular shoes and walk across your grass, making multiple passes in different directions to penetrate the turf thoroughly. If you're looking for one of the least expensive and most popular aerator tools, consider getting lawn aerator shoes with sturdy metal buckles.
• Handheld aerators come in various configurations, but most resemble a pitchfork. Most are spike aerators, but some are designed to remove plugs. Using a handheld aerator is simple but tiring: Stab the spikes deeply into the grass, pull out, and repeat, taking care to cover the entire lawn. If you have a smaller yard with tiny patches of grass, consider investing in an aerator with a foot bar for extra leverage.
• Manual drum aerators—sometimes called lawn spikers—are spike- or blade-covered heavy drums with long handles. To use, push a drum aerator across your lawn, making at least two complete circuits in different directions. Most manual drum aerators are spike lawn tools, but some are plug aerators.

Powered Types of Aerators

Gas-powered aerators make the job relatively quick and easy for more extensive lawns and are a good choice if you have concerns about hurting your back. These heavy-duty aerators usually remove plugs of soil and grass, which is the best method of lawn aeration. Lawn aerator rental is available at many garden centers or home improvement stores.

• Pull-behind aerators look like manual drum aerators, but a riding lawn mower does the work instead of pushing or stomping the aerating tool. This means that pull-behind aerators can be heavier and spikier than manual lawn aerators, which can also be more effective.
• Gas-powered aerators look like lawnmowers, but instead of spinning blades that cut grass, they have spinning spikes that aerate the soil. Some multi-functional models contain an additional dethatcher drum for added convenience.

Tips on Aerating a Lawn

Whatever type of yard aerator you choose, the basics of how to aerate a lawn are the same.

• A few days before you aerate the lawn, mow it to about half its usual height, and then water it well.
• Rake up any fallen leaves or debris.
• Mark the locations of sprinkler heads with marking flags or chalk.
• Aerate the lawn using your chosen tool. If it's a spike aerator, make at least two passes over the yard, each in a different direction. If using a plug aerator, just one pass is needed.
• Leave any soil plugs on the lawn; they will return nutrients to the soil as they decompose.
• Fertilize your lawn or apply a top dressing of compost. This is also a good time to reseed any bare patches.
• Return to watering and mowing your grass on its regular schedule.

To keep your grass looking its best, make sure you aerate annually in addition to watering, fertilizing, and weeding on a regular schedule.