How to Aerate Your Lawn

Learn why aeration is important to the
health of your lawn.

Buy a manual coring aerator for about $20 from a nursery or home-improvement store. These stores also carry easy-to-use rental machines if you'd like to use something more high-tech.

Use these aeration devices to pull out small plugs of soil and thatch. Or, hire a landscaping company to do the job for you.

Moisten grass a day or two before aerating to soften the soil. Finding the right balance is helpful because if the soil is too wet, it will compact more around the holes. If it is too dry, the aerator will bounce off the sod.

Make two to three passes to aerate severely-compacted soil to its proper depth of at least 3 inches. Space aeration holes about 3 inches apart.

Leave soil cores on the grass after you aerate. Your mower will spread them around and back into the soil with the next mowing.

Lower your mower's height to 1½ inches to stimulate new crown growth. Fertilize in late-September or early-October with a balanced mix of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Fertilizer not only improves turf quality, root growth and color—it also builds cold resistance into your grass. Fertilize once more in November to get your landscape through winter with style.