As I write this, the hail is coming down on this fine April 1st; and no, the hail is not my April Fool’s Day joke to you! However, between the hail and the snow we received just a few days ago, I’m itching to see the real weather that Spring is known for! And, with Spring comes the sound of lawnmowers on Saturday mornings and neighbors are fixing their sprinkler systems from a hard cold winter (yes, our dear friends in the South and elsewhere in our great nation, we envy your snickering at my sprinkler system as you allow the natural moisture to nourish your lawn!!).
However, what this time of year should also bring is a thrifty plan to keep your lawn healthy and green this year without the high cost and waste of unneeded water. The first way we are going to attack that high water bill this year (I love it!!) is by aerating our lawn. Now, not only do we have the joy of a sprinkler system (which actually helps us save money on watering than the manual technique) but we live in an arid/dry climate (which is recommended to aerate twice a year) and we have clay. This is where aeration saves us every year!! Clay is great for compacted soil which is terrible for green lawns.
What is it?! Aeration is the process in which you can either poke holes in the ground with one type of aerator (not great as its still compacting the dirt) or remove small cores of soil from your lawn (which gets dispensed all over your grass – don’t worry as this is good!). By creating these holes in which the cores used to be you are getting some great benefits including:
- You are allowing your lawn to breathe (air to your grass roots – think oxygen and nitrogen!!)
- Providing future waterings the maximum potential by allowing the water to get to your roots
- Giving your roots additional room to grow
- And allowing your fertilizers that you will be applying to get to the roots of the grass!
So, maybe you believe me that this is the time to consider aerating your lawn. Great!! Well, how do you do it?! This is the even better part! Around our neck of the woods you will see guys our trying to schedule whole neighborhoods at once. Why?! Because they know what I’m getting ready to tell you. Check your local rental shop and find out how much you can rent their equipment for plus ask if they have specials/discounts or a coupon out somewhere that you can use. Something tells me (like we can here!!) if you get one or more neighbors to join in, the 2-3 of you can rent a power aerator and aerate your own lawn for far cheaper than what you’ll pay for a commercial aeration.
Be careful, though! Make sure you mark your sprinkler heads. Although you might think they are easy to replace (which they are), its so much cheaper when you don’t. 🙂 Aerate away and start counting the hours of watering you’ll save and the greener lawn you’ll see this year.
Have you done this before?! Let me know and what type of results you experienced!! And be watching as we’ll be covering future topics such as thatch, fertilizing, and other great thrifty lawn tips!!!
Now, if the snow will just melt long enough to let me get out there to get started!!!
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