Category: Do It by Yourself

Core lawn aeration has many benefits

Spring has hit the Denver metro area and it is time to aerate your lawn. Core aeration is a great spring practice for many reasons. Aeration opens up the ground and allows air to get into the root system. Your lawn and soil need air to stay healthy and thrive. Aeration also helps get water and fertilizer deep into your root system. It reduces soil compaction and helps control thatch in your yard. Kentucky bluegrass generates new grass plants when underground runners or rhizomes are cut. Cut the rhizome and you get two new grass plants. If your lawn is weak or thin, aerating will help thicken it up. Water, aerate and fertilize. In a few weeks your lawn will be thick and lush.

Different types of Aerators

There are three common ways to aerate your yard. Core aeration uses a round hollow tine blade that pulls a 2” to 4” long plug of turf out of your lawn. This is the most common and beneficial method. Core aeration will get more air into your yard and is the best at reducing thatch. The second method uses a blade tine that slices open your turf. Slicing your lawn also helps to thicken it up. The third method is spike aeration.  Spike tines punch holes in your yard using a solid spike. This is the least visible method. In most cases, core aeration is the best and don’t worry about the plugs, they will disappear in a week or two.

Aeration tips and tricks

Your yard needs to be soft enough to push a screwdriver in a few inches but not overly wet. The day before you are going to aerate, water the ground to soften it or time the aeration with natural precipitation. Flag all sprinkler heads so you can avoid hitting them. Now core aerate your yard. Depending on the spacing of the tines, you may need to make three to four passes. If you have thick thatch, the more holes the better. It is best to leave the plugs on the yard unless you have compacted soil. Rake up the plugs to relax compacted soil. If not, leave the plugs. After a heavy aeration, you can break up a thick layer of plugs using a leaf rake or drag a piece of chain link fence over the area. Spreading out the plugs helps reduce the thatch layer. Now it is time to fertilize and get some food into your lawns’ root system.

When to turn on your sprinkler system in the Spring.

It is time to fire up your sprinkler system. With temperatures in the 60’s and high winds in the Denver area, lawns, plants and trees are drying out. Even though there is a chance it could snow, temperatures typically will not get cold enough to damage your sprinkler system. If it does get cold after you have charged your irrigation system, cover you back flow and don’t worry about the pipes or heads in the ground freezing. Also, if you have new sod from last year, now is the time to water. Lawns that are a year or less old have a shallower root system. Spring is a great time to grow those roots down so when the temperatures rise, your grass is ready for the heat. Bluegrass produces new shoots or rhizomes primarily in the spring and fills in weak spots. A little water now will help thicken up your yard and have it looking great this summer.

Turn on the water to your sprinkler system

1 – First, open the valves on the back flow preventor and close the drains. The back flow preventor is typically on the outside of your house. If you have drains in your valve boxes, close them as well.

2 – Make sure your sprinkler clock has a fresh battery and is plugged in and working. Turn on a sprinkler zone so when you turn on the water, the air in the system has somewhere to go.

3 – Slowly open the valve that supplies water to your sprinkler system. Air, then water should come out of the zone. Run until all the air is out of the system.

Check your sprinklers heads

Now that you have water in your sprinkler system, run each sprinkler zone and check for clogged nozzles and adjust heads. Look at the water coming out of each sprinkler and if the spray pattern does not look uniform or not much water is coming out, it may have some debris in it. If this is the case, take the nozzle off and clean. This is also a great time to determine if you may need new nozzles or upgrade to modern heads that can put the water on slower helping achieve deeper watering and better water conservation. If you have old metal or brass sprinklers heads or nozzles, it could be time to replace them with new heads that can save a lot of water! Contact a sprinkler company if you need help. Precise irrigation is the key to saving water and having a great lawn!