Homeowners: Your Fall Aeration & Seeding Guide
Does your lawn look worn out by Labor Day?
Pennsylvania summers can take a toll on your turfgrass, with inconsistent rainfall and scorching daytime temperatures. If you have kids and pets, there’s also a lot of foot traffic on your yard during the summer, leading to compacted soil.
South-Central PA lawns also have clay soil—which easily gets compacted, resulting in yard ponding and causing your turfgrass to deteriorate by restricting root growth, limiting water absorption, and reducing nutrient uptake.
In this fall guide, you’ll learn more about the benefits of fall aeration and overseeding, including
- What Is Aeration?
- Top Lawn Aeration Benefits
- Pro Overseeding Tips for a Thicker Lawn.
The first step to revitalizing your heat-stressed lawn is through aeration.
What is Aeration?
Typically, aeration and overseeding are performed between September to the end of October—PA lawns consist of cool-season grasses that thrive in cooler temperatures.
You can choose between two aeration options—mechanical or granular—depending on how much coverage your lawn needs. Our team guides you to the right choice.
- Mechanical aeration, where we use an aerator to pull plugs of soil from the ground. The plugs will absorb back into the ground the next time you water your lawn or it rains.
- Granular aeration, where a tech will apply a product called C20—which is a natural, plant-derived, concentrated carbon food source designed for soil microbes. It’s not a chemical.
Instead, C20 is an environmentally-friendly product made from harvested grains. It works by increasing microbial activity in the soil, using carbon as an energy source to feed microbes that live underground. A healthy microbe population naturally aerates the soil.
Yet, you may be wondering, “What are the benefits of lawn aeration?
Read more: Revitalize Your Lawn with Fall Mechanical Aeration & Seeding
Top Lawn Aeration Benefits
Lawn aeration provides many benefits, including
- Opens up compacted soil so roots get more air, water, and nutrients.
- Reduces thatch that can invite pests and disease. Thatch is that layer that grows between the live grass line and the soil line.
- Encourages vigorous root growth for stronger, greener turf.
- Improves seed-to-soil contact because the small holes allow grass seeds to go deeper into the soil for improved germination.
- Smooths out uneven spots for a better-looking lawn.
Together, these benefits give you a robust, greener lawn that’s easy to maintain and more enjoyable for your family to use.
Granular aeration, on the other hand, covers your entire lawn and
- Increases microbial activity that naturally improves soil health.
- Leaves no messy plugs and lets you walk on the lawn right away.
- Retains more water in the soil for more robust root growth.
- Delivers longer-lasting results than mechanical aeration.
As you can see, aeration is the first step toward lawn renovation. If you desire a new lawn, continue to care for your turfgrass by overseeding it.
Pro Overseeding Tips for a Thicker Lawn
The best time to overseed your lawn is right after aeration, when the soil is looser and ready to receive grass seed. Here are a few pro tips to get you started:
- Seed in the fall while the soil is still warm and the weather is cooler.
- Choose only high-quality seed blends suited for sun or shade.
- Apply a starter fertilizer to support root growth.
- Water lightly and often until seedlings emerge.
Following these overseeding tips helps your new grass root quickly, so you’ll see a fuller, thicker lawn by spring.
Trust Tomlinson Bomberger for Expert Lawn Aeration & Overseeding
Our team understands the unique challenges of South-Central PA lawns and applies proven techniques to restore your turf to health.
Fill out our contact form today to get started on our aeration and overseeding lawn services.
Sources:
Barron.Extension.WISC.edu, Lawn Aeration and Topdressing. (pdf)
GolfCourseLawn.store, Aerating and Overseeding: Why These Two Practices Go Hand-in-Hand for Optimal Lawn Health.
YardandGarden.Extension.IAState.edu, Overseeding a Lawn.
