Sierra Club

If you find that your lawn seems flat and sickly green, there are other remedies for fixing the problem other than just spreading more fertilizer--fertilizer which can work its way into our waterways and wells.  It is a sad reality, but many of us tend to over-fertilize our lawns anyway (which can lead to other problems as well).

One cause of an unhealthy lawn is the compaction of the soil, and it is something that you can take care of on your own, if you are willing to put a little leg- and back work into it.

Step One:

Get yourself a core-aerator.  I use one like the one that's pictured here:

As lawns age, they tend to get walked on a great deal.  Add to that the build-up of thatch (which we can address in another tip) and you get a lawn that can't breathe, and if air can’t get to it, water isn’t getting to it either.  Once this happens, the water tends to run off the top of the lawn without any of it soaking in.  You can water your lawn until those proverbial (or literal) cows come home, and it won't make any difference.

The core aerator does two things: it breaks the surface of the lawn and it pulls a tiny plug out.  This is a good thing.  As you'll see in Step Two, we're going to replace that plug.  Now you've got a way to get the water and nutrients to the roots where the grass needs it.  Without getting the food and water to the roots of the plant, you might as well be watering your driveway.  

I like to vary my approach when I use my core aerator.  I general go in a horizontal direction one year and a vertical the next, then I work on the diagonal--just to make sure I'm hitting different parts of the lawn each time.  Most lawn care professionals will tell you that once every two years is the time-frame for a core aeration--but if your soil is as compacted as mine was (and my wife and I started seeing problems the second year we moved into our newly built home) you might need to do it twice a year for a couple of years.  So, in my case, I do my first core aeration in February / March (yup, I'm late getting to it this year) and the second one in late Fall (October / November).

Walking across your lawn with your core aerator can be good exercise (keep a positive outlook).  It'll also give you time to really look at your lawn—you’ll begin to notice how individual parts are responding to your care and where pesky weeds are starting to show their unwelcome heads.  Space your steps out like you would normally walk and give about six- to eight-inches between rows.  I like to alternate which foot is on the tool with each row--and a word of advice: use gloves.  While your hands aren't really doing any work other than holding the tool, by the time you finish your lawn, you will have blisters!

Depending on how compacted your soil is (the first time I did my side yard, I had to jump on the core aerator like a pogo-stick) your lawn should look a little like a flock of geese paraded around for a while.

The company that built my home didn't put any type of soil down underneath the sod, and while that makes for other problems, it also doesn't supply the lawn with the necessary growing medium that it needs to be healthy and green.  That thought brings us to Step Two!

As a quick aside before moving on—for those of you who can’t walk your lawn in one day or who simply don’t have the energy to do the whole thing, they do rent power aerators, but they are generally gas powered or tractor pulled.

Step Two:

Get plenty of rich, composted soil (you can also use any that you might have been making all this while!)

I usually dump a wheelbarrow of soil at five-foot intervals (and I put it at the top of the yard—mine slopes down from the house to the curb).  You’ll probably need to add more as you go, so start with the farthest corner of your yard and work towards the place where you had your composted soil delivered (or your bins).  Get your trusty rake (and I cannot overemphasize the need for gloves again) and begin to rake the soil into the lawn.  You don’t want to cover completely the lawn.  I like to think of it as giving my lawn a back scratch.  Coat the lawn with the soil an inch or two at most and don’t leave any clumps of dirt.  If you can’t see your grass when you are done than it can’t see the sun and you will just end up killing larger portions of your lawn than the soil compaction did.  It should look like a field of green with a dark brown/black base.

If you get your soil from a nursery (and it had better be a local one!) you’ll find that rocks and clumps of soil are par for the course.  Simply make sure that you pick up the rocks as you go and rake out the clumps.  This is one of the reasons that I work from the top of the yard to the bottom.  By the time I get to the sidewalk, I’ve got a pile of dirt balls.  I usually scoop these up and put them in the place in my back yard that I keep dirt for going around my trees and any plants that get added through the course of the Spring and Summer.

As the season progresses, you’ll see that you’ve got a healthier lawn.  The soil you put on top of the lawn will work its way into the lawn via the holes the core aerator made.  This soil will go a long way toward feeding the lawn (with its rich nutrients) and will begin to provide the roots with a more nurturing medium to grow in than just sand.

In the past, when I’ve done this in early- to mid-February, I’ve had a green lawn in time for St. Patty’s Day—often the first one on the block (and it’s a centipede lawn, not one of those winter mixes.).

I’ll write more about what else to feed your lawn in the coming weeks—I’ll give you a hint: you can find just about all of the ingredients in your larder and refrigerator.