Town Crier Articles

With fall nearly here, we see crews in the neighborhood aerating and overseeding. We all know about aeration right, opening up the soil with tiny openings to decrease compaction, reduce thatch in the lawn, and allow oxygen and nutrients into the lawn.

 

Wait. Thatch? Thatch is a build-up of living and dead grass and other organic material in the lawn. This can cause a variety of issues with seed germination and a healthy lawn in general, so sometimes you have to dethatch. Remove material. This often involves gentle raking and removal of excess material. You want to go lightly here, or you’ll create a whole other project.

 

Bottom line - if your lawn's failure to thrive is due to soil compaction, you will want to aerate it. If thick thatch is the problem, you will instead need to dethatch your lawn. Done together, you will want to dethatch first and then aerate.