Paved Paradise...Put Up a Parking Lot

Even when not working on a customer's lawn I usually become aware of its condition while working on other aspects of their property.

And, many have felt as if I am walking on a parking lot. Even some of those with somewhat supple blades still feel like asphalt or concrete under foot.

Even in the latter case, the future for the lawn may not be so bright.

Turf grasses, those which we have or try to maintain on our properties rarely occur naturally in the wild. Man has spent much time developing these for our purposes and they rarely can simply go it alone unattended and achieve the beauty and health for which they are capable.

Yes, you can mow, edge, fertilize and water your grass, but the one thing that will most definitely help your lawn is to routinely or occasionally aerate. This is the one way to assist your lawn with naturally gaining the four things it needs and wants - water, nutrients, sunlight and air.

I am speaking of core aeration, not stabbing your lawn with a pitch fork or running around on it with metal-spike golf shoes. Core aeration, while loosening the soil and creating a path for water, nutrients, air and sunlight, also takes the resulting plugs, with their organic material and nutrients, and distributes them across the lawn. Call it soil recycling if you will.

Until having a manual core aerating tool I did you use a pitch fork, along with the proper technique, to aerate small patches of turf grass or to prep a small area for over-dressing. I still use a manual core aerator to do so on larger projects to work areas not accessible by the larger power aerators.

As for metal-spike golf shoes; well, if that worked then golf courses wouldn't use power core aerators two to possibly three times a year - they'd just leave this up to the gol(ph)ers.

The coming season is a wonderful time to aerate and can be performed in conjunction with spreading lime or fertilizing.   

Again, we do use both power and manual core aerators to ensure we cover as much of your lawn as possible.

There are some savings (economies of scale) by performing two to three aerations in relative proximity on the same day, so ask a neighbor or friend to do so as well. 

Please use the Contact Us feature to the right to schedule a property visit or go to http://back40.us/contact.html. 

I took the title for this post from Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi put out in 1970 and I like Joni Mitchell, but I truly appreciate what the Counting Crows did with the song in 2002.

Check it out.