“A beautiful lawn,” the oldest saying in lawn care notes, “doesn’t happen by itself.” Any homeowner through the history of time can attest to the truth of this timeless lawn care proverb. For lawns don’t mow themselves (at least not until robo lawnmowers get here).
But what lawn care method produces the most beautiful, healthiest lawn? This brings us to one of the fiercest and greenest debates in lawn care: Dethatching vs. Aerating.
Both are critical lawn care projects that revitalize lawns from late winter through late spring. Both dethatching and aerating enable vital nutrients like fertilizer, water and oxygen to reach a lawn’s root zone so grass can continue to grow and thrive. But they use vastly different methods and are accomplished through different sets of tools.
What is Dethatching?
Thatch refers to the layer of debris below grass that grows over time. A variety of natural matter, thatch eventually forms a semi-solid. A small level of thatch is fine for grass’ health, but it can stockpile quickly. Excess thatch creates a barrier that prevents important hydration, nutrients and air from reaching the soil. The fallout is poor sod.
Lawn dethatching is the process of breaking up and removing the thatch build up. The best part of dethatching: It’s a relative easy task, and your soil will thank you.
Why Dethatch?
The benefits of dethatching are vast:
- Allows nutrients, water and air to reach soil
- Improves soil health
- Improves lawn quality
- Brings sunlight to lawns
- Promotes root growth
- Reduces water runoff and standing water
How to Dethatch Your Lawn
The ideal DIY project, dethatching requires just a dethatching rake (available at home improvement stores, hardware stores and on Amazon). These soil revitalizers feature heavy, short-tined rakes with curved blades that dig into lawns and pull of thatch. Power rakes and verticutters are also strong dethatching tools.
Dethatching Tips
Begin with raking grass vigorously enough to rake through the thatch layer. Other things to remember when dethatching include:
- Remember your breaking up thatch overgrowth, so it’s natural for your yard to look like Lambeau Field after a Bears-Packers game.
- Don’t rake your grass to the bone. There is such thing as over-dethatching
- Dethatching is not a necessary annual lawn care task, only as needed.
- When should you dethatch? If you can’t see your soil easily, it’s time to a dethatch
- Dethatch season is now: March, the sweet end of winter.
What Is Aeration?
Best put, lawn aeration is pallet cleanser for lawns. Aerating punches holes a few inches deep into sod to allow air, water and nutrients to seep into the soil and reach lawn roots.
Lawns located on a foundation of hard, compacted soil especially benefit from aeration. Aeration enables lawn roots to get a daily dose of essential nutrients and hydration.
Why Aerate?
Aeration is nutritious chicken soup for a lawn’s soul. Aeration’s benefits are vast:
- Decreases soil compaction
- Improves grass health
- Enables nutrients to penetrate deeper into the root zone
- Lowers water runoff or standing water
- Reduces thatch accumulation
- Allows grass roots to expand for stronger turf
- Deepens lawns
How to Aerate Your Lawn
A professional lawn care company like Creekside Turf can take the work out of aerating out of your hands and deliver a polished job. But renting a professor aerator or purchasing aeration tools online or at your local hardware store is an option for avid DIYers.
Aerating Tips
Here is an aeration map to follow guaranteed to produce the best results:
- Aerate after a rain storm; even the best professional machinery won’t do an effective job on dry grass.
- If you are DIYing, make multiple passes to guarantee that the entirety of the lawn’s surface has been adequately covered.
- Aerate annually or bi-annually to keep your lawn healthy.
- Apply fertilizer immediately after aeriation for the optimal benefits.
The Verdict
There is no wrong answer in the Aeration vs Dethatching debate. Choosing one over the other won’t result in your lawn looking like your local arboretum or the Sahara desert.
These are easy lawn care procedures that will improve the overall health and beauty of your grass. While aeriation breaks up and treats the soil, dethatching breaks up and removes thatch. Both of these trusted lawn care methods treat different lawn issues but deliver the same rich results.
Through dethatching and aerating, grass receives all the essentials it needs: air, water and nutrients. And your lawn is all the richer and more beautiful for it.
