When you’re looking for the best lawn care services in Gainesville, there are a lot of things to keep in mind. Whether or not the company provides services for aerating lawns is a big one. After all, maintaining a healthy lawn isn’t as simple as mowing the grass. That’s the equivalent of putting gas in your car’s tank without ever changing the oil. However, many homeowners aren’t familiar with the steps to — let alone the importance of — aerating their grass. That’s why we’re covering these aerating lawns for beginners tips today.
What does it mean to aerate a lawn?
Let’s start with a basic definition. Before we can share our tips for aerating lawns for beginners, it’s important to understand the terminology first.
To aerate a lawn means that you are putting holes in the surface of your lawn. This allows necessary nutrients to get where they need to be, such as your soil and the roots of your lawn.
The importance of aerating lawns for beginners
You may have a perfectly manicured, bright green lawn. We’d go so far as to say that, if you’re already using the best lawn care services in Gainesville, you may very well have the best-looking lawn on the block.
That doesn’t mean you can forgo various types of lawn care maintenance. At its most basic level, grass is a plant. And, like all other types of vegetation in our world, it needs access to water as well as the sun for adequate photosynthesis. These “holes” allow water to penetrate the roots so that your lawn can develop a healthy and robust appearance.
This problem is magnified if you have areas of your lawn with increased foot traffic. Whether it be from pets, your kids, or general wear and tear, your lawn can quickly become compacted. If left unattended, this can create problems for your grass and make it far more susceptible to diseases.
How often does a lawn need to be aerated?
So you might be thinking, “Okay, I want the best-looking lawn in my neighborhood. That means I should aerate all the time, right?”
Actually, this assumption is wrong. Like many other things in life, your lawn needs time to rest and breathe. The best way to ensure a proper aeration schedule is to contact the best lawn care services in Gainesville, Florida. But more on that in a moment.
Aerating it weekly or even monthly would be too much. Instead, your schedule for aerating lawns (especially if you’re a beginner) should be one of your bi-annual tasks. The best time of year for this is the late summer and early fall. Aerating in the spring could cause weeds to sprout up unexpectedly.
However, you also don’t want to aerate during a patch of particularly hot and dry days. This can have an adverse reaction on your lawn’s health.
Beginner tips for aerating lawns
There are important things to keep in mind when aerating lawns. For beginners, we thought that the simplest way of keeping these tips in your mind would be to give them catchy or memorable “names”, whether they be from common sayings or (in the case of our second tip) an old nursery school limerick.
However, our first tip is incredibly important, and so to reflect its seriousness, let’s tackle it first.
*Know the location of your utilities
Everyone knows the importance of calling before you dig. If you’re planning to install a post for a new backyard fence, for example, you should have (and most likely) called 811 for assistance. This simple call can save untold headaches down the road. By marking underground utilities, you can more safely aerate your lawn.
We recognize that it is highly unlikely you’re going to punch a hole in your grass deep enough to cause damage to your natural gas or buried electric lines. However, don’t forget about your water sprinkler system. Those lines can be very expensive to fix, and the last thing you want to have happen is to create an unintentional hole in them.
So in short, have a general idea of where your buried utility lines are. And, in the case of your irrigation system, be sure to mark off your sprinkler heads and lines before you begin. PRO TIP: Have your sprinklers checked before you aerate and ask your lawn care service to mark the location of the sprinkler heads and lines as they go.
*Rain, rain go away
With that tip out of the way, let’s look at the next recommendation for aerating lawns for beginners. The best lawn care in Gainesville will tell you that the ideal time to aerate is right after a heavy downpour. First, your ground will be soft. Second, this will allow for your aerating efforts to pay off with a more effective result.
*Don’t cut corners
Measure twice, cut once is a well-known saying in the carpentry world. Cutting corners leads to waste, and in the case of aerating your lawn, you want to be thorough. Don’t skip any part of your lawn, and it’s a great idea to cover the entire yard at least twice. Pay special attention to high-traffic areas and the parts of your lawn that border your walkways and driveways. Be thorough for the best results.
*Give it a rest!
Finally, your lawn will need some time to recover after this process. There will be portions of your soil lying on top of your lawn’s surface. Allow them time to dry and then break them up. Use a power rake for best handheld results. By breaking these clumps up, they will make their way back to the soil and fill in any holes.
The best lawn care services in Gainesville will aerate your lawn the right way
If you need the best lawn care services in Gainesville, look no further than the team at Sun Power Lawn Care. We have decades of combined experience maintaining healthy, beautiful lawns across our region. Our employees are fully licensed and trained in the proper methods of lawn care, and our services in Gainesville as well as the surrounding communities are second to none.
Would you like to learn more about how our team can help? Then send us a message here or call our offices at (352) 507-5296 for a free quote!
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