One of the key steps in having a luscious green lawn is aerating, and often this is overlooked. By aerating your lawn it allows your grass roots to absorb water and nutrients. The process of aeration involves the removal of small cores, or plugs of soil which in turn are deposited on the surface but will eventually break up with rain or foot traffic then act as a fertilizer. The small holes that remain help to separate compacted areas and allows water and air to penetrate the roots.
The best time to aerate is early summer and/or early autumn, when the lawn is growing most actively. If you have freshly laid sod you shouldn’t need to aerate. Typically only mature lawns need aerating, Core aerating is by far the most effective way to aerate your lawn opposed to aerators that just punch holes in the soil without removing plugs.