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aerating shoes
I've not tried them myself however the reports I've heard of them were not encouraging.
I think that in order for the spikes to be long enough to be effective they'd make it too hard for you to lift you feet up again.
If you have a bad back I'd be very wary of trying them!
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I'd be scared of being stuck to the lawn!!!
I think you'd need very strong legs for it to work if the spikes were of any length at all !!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'd be afraid of feet being stuck down but top end still going forward
In the sticks near Peterborough
Pauline I haven't tried them but did once walk the lawn in an old pair of stilettos to see if they would do the trick. I kept getting stuck and it pulled like heck on the calves.
Being stuck in the mud, reminds me of a time at Parr sands. Me and my sister were in wellies in the clay run off on the beach. We got stuck. At the finish my dad rescued us, one under each arm, and the wellies left standing there.
Fidget - that was a daily occurence in my childhood on the farm, but Pa soon learnt that not only did he have to return the children to a warm kitchen, but Ma would send him back out for the wellies LOL
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I have tried this, difficult to walk and the spiky shoes get getting stuck and coming off.
KEF - I have a great picture of you in my head now
I'd agree with the others too Pauline - think the spikes wouldn't be long enough to do any real good and any longer may be quite dangerous. I'm considering getting one of those ones you push into the ground to remove cores of soil but that would probably be out of the question for you with your back. Perhaps a bit at a time is the answer with it though.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Sounds like a big NO then.
Agree with dove, wellies stuck in mud and your foot ends up sinking in, and if your socks were gathered at the toe end, these were never seen again.
I have only done relief miking, would like it as a full tiime job.
There are some beautiful bogs on Dartmoor, feet sink in lovely! They bubble, is it methane?
I remember my very young brother watching my Gardening Granny spiking the lawn with a fork. She left the fork outside when she went inside to do something - before anyone noticed little brother picked up the fork (he was a strapping lad) and plunged it into the lawn just as his Granny had done - sticking it right through his Clarkes sandal, through his foot and into the lawn!!!
A mad dash to A&E and a series of tetanus injections followed - he's not been keen on gardening since!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I've seen someone walking up and down a lawn wearing crampons. I think it might work quite well in the surface layer and it didn't seem like hard work.