This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Lawn Aeration

I believe my lawn to be suffering from compaction and was thinking of getting the greenthumb guys in to use one of their machines that get the plugs of soil out. Would this be the right time of year to do this or should I wait a bit? I usually scarify every year but it still doesn't seem to help much so I thought I would try outside intervention.
1
Posts
A bit early yet and it freezing / snowing, you can use a fork and save £££. If you do get greenthumb in make sure they pick the plugs up, you can munch them up with a mower but has to be dry, it will provide a top dressing. Brush sharp sand into the holes after if your having problems with drainage/moss.
Get a quote from a local lawn company or experienced gardener first. I have seen too much questionable work by GT operatives to ever consider using them! Aeration with plugs not cleared up, aeration when the lawn is so damp the cores get smeared and don't function properly, shallow aeration under an inch deep when it's supposed to be 3 inches etc etc.
In fact, you must have a place that you can hire the machine from for a day. It's remarkably easy to use, keep it slow so the cores get punched full depth. The thing that an expert can offer though is analysing the lawn to see if it is even required, and applying a proper topdressing afterwards.
Thanks for replies Perki and Glasgowdan.
I think like a lot of companies nowadays they are franchised so you never know who you are going to get on the day. I will look further into local lawn experts.