An aeration treatment removes small cores of soil and thatch to allow air, moisture and nutrients to penetrate down to the root zone.

The cores brought to the surface contain microorganisms, which help the breakdown of the woody thatch tissue layer just below the lawn’s crown.

As the thatch layer is broken down, it is converted into organic matter that will then combine with existing soil particles.

Also, as the cores begin to breakdown over a period of several weeks, the holes gradually fill in with a mixture of organic matter and soil, and the filled hole allows roots of existing grass plants to spread out and grow deeper, creating a healthier, thicker lawn.

As lawns age or sustain heavy use from play, sports activities, pets, vehicle traffic and parking, soil compaction can result. Soil compacting forces are most severe in poorly drained or wet sites. Compaction greatly reduces the pore space within the soil that would normally hold air. Roots require oxygen to grow and absorb nutrients and water. Compaction reduces total pore space and the amount of air within the soil. It has a negative impact on nutrient uptake and water infiltration, in addition to being a physical barrier to root growth. This results in poor top growth and lawn deterioration. Core aeration can benefit your lawn by:

• Increasing the activity of soil microorganisms that decompose thatch.
• Increasing water, nutrient and oxygen movement into the soil.
• Improving rooting.
• Enhancing infiltration of rainfall or irrigation.
• Helping prevent fertilizer and pesticide run-off from overly compacted areas.

Because the aeration process is stressful on lawns, it should only be done during periods just before active growth is expected. For cool season grasses, those typically found in the northern half of the country, this would be in early spring or early fall, the 2 times of the year when cool season grasses really grow.

During the hot summer months, cool season grasses really slow down in the growing department and this is not a good time to be aerating. If you’re planning on aerating in the spring and you plan on using a crabgrass control product, you’ll want to aerate before the pre-emergent application is made, which is as a rule around the time when forsythias first start blooming.

For warm season grasses, the highest period of growth is when it’s warmest. So aeration would be good if done in early summer.

Overseeding in cool-season areas, will fill-in bare or thin spots and help build a thicker lawn faster. The new seed quickly takes root in the freshly aerated lawn and provides new life to your already established grass. As your lawn gets thicker and healthier, your new grass plants help reduce the chance of new weeds sprouting.

If you’ve done a soil test and your pH levels are out of whack and you need to apply lime, do this immediately after aerating. Applying lime to the soil surface at best only modifies the top 1/2″ of the top soil. Applying lime after an aeration will help amend the soil to the depth of the aeration holes.

Here are ten common weeds with pictures and descriptions that will help you identify the problem so you can nip it at the root.

Bentgrass

Bentgrass is an invasive weed but also sometimes the grass of choice for golf courses and for some lawns where frequent fertilizer and mowing is desirable. The grass is shallow rooted and patches will appear as fine-textured, puffy patches and can be dug out completely if you dig down to a level of at least one inch and remove the turf.

Chickweed

Chickweed comes in two species; mouse-ear chickweed and common chickweed are perennial and annual respectively. Mouse-ear chickweed can grow into dense patches on your lawn, while common chickweed has delicate broad leaves about half an inch long. What is a weed to some is not to others, chickweed has a history in folk medicine and is a useful food supply for birds; chickweed is prolific in the spring under wet and cool conditions.

Clover

Clover has a good and bad side and clover seeds were, not so long ago, loaded into grass seed as a source of nitrogen. However, once clover gets a hold it will affect the look of your lawn drastically. On the upside, you might just find that four leafed clover and the flowers do attract bees from spring right through to fall.

Crabgrass

Crabgrass is a warm season annual than can be upright or flat and is multi-branched. Crabgrass can form a mat and the large variety if left unchecked can grow up to three feet high. Large crabgrass has flat, sharply pointed blue-green leaves, while smooth crabgrass, which grows to a height of 15 inches, has dull green leaves with a purple tinge.

Dandelions

Dandelions are lovely to look at with their bright yellow blooms but the plant can quickly disrupt and disfigure your lawn. Classified as a broad-leaf-weed, dandelions can be controlled by manual means or via herbicides. However, because of their ability to spread in the wind, if there are uncontrolled dandelions in your neighborhood your battle may be a long one.

Ground Ivy

Ground Ivy is also known as creeping Charlie or catsfoot. The plant is a tough weed to control as it is hard to pull out and is resistant to many commercial broadleaf weed killers. Ground Ivy has other uses, the plant was one of a number of herbs used to clarify beer by the Saxons and it can have a pleasant aroma when mowed.

Nimblewill

Nimblewill is found across the U.S. east of the Rockies. The weed is a shallow rooted warm-season perennial grass that gets a foothold in bare spots in your lawn or in your nearby flower beds, where it quickly spreads into your lawn areas. Caught early, Nimblewill is best pulled out by hand.

Broadleaf Plantain

Broadleaf Plantain is a vigorously growing broad leaf weed with oval leaves that are slightly hairy that will take advantage of your lawn’s bare spots to invade. Once established, plantain is difficult to get rid of; take prompt, manual action.

Quackgrass

Quackgrass although a grass species in its own right is not going to enhance the look of your lawn with its long tapered blades attached to hollow stems and a very strong, root system; Quackgrass is spread by birds and also by mowing once it goes to seed. The grass also spreads by producing rhizomes; these underground stems can sprout when broken to form new plants.

Spotted Spurge

Spotted Spurge is a summer broadleaf weed that will establish itself in your lawn’s bare spots but can also infest healthy lawns. Look for a low growing plant that forms a mat up to 16 inches across with a central taproot. Spurge’s leafs are oval and up to three quarters of an inch long, sometimes with a purple spot in the center.

We’ve identified ten species of the peskiest weeds, hopefully you will be able to identify and destroy!

Spring Lawn Care Tips from LawnCare.org

Huntsville lawn care is much less time intensive in the Spring than in the fall. If you prepared your lawn properly in the late fall, there should be very little for you to do once the weather begins to get warm again.

The most important part of spring lawn care is to make sure that the lawn has plenty of opportunity to gently come back to life during the early spring months. If you do it right, the sun and soil will do most of the work for you.

Fall Lawn Care Impacts Spring Lawn Care

The best time to prepare your lawn is in the late fall just before it goes dormant for the winter. If you treated your grass properly during the fall, it has had all winter to germinate and prepare itself to grow heartily as soon as the temperatures begin to rise. If you didn’t take proper care of your lawn in the fall, however, you will have more work to do once spring arrives.

Sometimes you don’t have any control over how the lawn was treated the previous fall, in which case your best bet is to treat the lawn as if it received no winter preparation at all.

Don’t Start Too Early

It can be tempting to get out the lawn tools and attack your yard just as soon as it is warm enough to go outside without a coat on. Be patient, though, and let your lawn wake itself up gradually. If you spend too much time on your lawn before it is fully green, you run the risk of compacting the grass or killing new shoots before they have a chance to mature. Wait until your lawn has turned mostly green before you begin mowing or aerating in the spring.

Begin with Raking

Raking your lawn is probably how you finished working in the yard late last fall. In the spring it is a good idea to begin everything with that same rake. Give your yard a thorough, deep raking before you begin to mow or treat the grass.

Raking allows you to pull up any thatch that may have accumulated over the winter when the grass was less springy. It also gives you a chance to find any dead spots or compacted areas that need special attention. When a lawn becomes compacted, you need to use an aerator to loosen the soil and allow the grass to grow more easily once more.

Test for Soil Acidity

Most home improvement stores and garden centers sell do it yourself soil pH tests. These tests are a valuable tool as you prepare your lawn for the summer. Harsh, long winters can cause the pH levels in your soil to become very acidic, which makes it difficult for most grasses to thrive.

If you find that your soil has a high acid level, you can spread a thin layer of lime over your lawn. The lime neutralizes the acid and makes the soil better able to support new grass growth.

Fertilizing in the Spring

If you properly fertilized your lawn in the fall, there is probably no need to apply another layer of fertilizer in the spring. Cool season grasses in particular are good at holding on to fertilizer from the fall and using it all winter.

There is a good chance that your cool season grass is still utilizing the fertilizer from the fall throughout the spring and into the summer. Warm season grasses may need a fresh layer of fertilizer during the spring because they begin to soak up the nutrients as soon as the weather gets warmer.

Dealing with Weeds

If you know that your lawn is prone to weeds, early spring can be a good time to apply herbicides to prevent the weeds from developing. It is much easier to get rid of persistent weeds before they have a chance to form than to deal with them once they have fully matured. Getting rid of weeds is another aspect of lawn care that is most effective if it is done in the fall.

If you treat your lawn for weeds in the late fall, you will probably not have as many to deal with in the spring. A light application of pre-emergent weed killer in the spring should take care of any of the weeds that survived your fall treatment. Don’t overdo thespring weed killer, however, or you may damage the new grass that is starting to grow.

For more tips, check out our Spring Lawn Care Guide

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As the world outside finally begins to turn green after a long winter, it’s time once again to pay attention to your lawn. Spring is a sensitive time for your yard – the soil is spongy, the plants are tender, and the weather is unpredictable. Your lawn will thank you for being gentle this time of year, but it will also thank you for addressing a few important spring tasks. Here’s how to go about taking care of your lawn in the spring.

Types of Grass

Spring lawn care depends on the type of grass you are growing:

Cool-season grasses include fescue, bluegrass, and rye. They have two growth spurts – a moderate one in the spring, and a big one in the fall. They go dormant and can struggle in hot summer months, so the focus of spring care is strengthening the plants for summer.
Warm-season grasses—such as Zoysia, St. Augustine, centipede, and Bermuda—thrive in the heat and go dormant during winter. They begin growing after the last spring frost and really get going by midsummer.
Understanding the type of grass you have and its peak growing season will help you address lawn care tasks at the correct time.

Clean Up – Gently!

Avoid heavy yard work in the spring until the soil dries out – foot traffic and hard raking can compact or disturb soggy soil and damage tender, new grass shoots. Once the soil is good and dry, give your lawn a good spring cleaning to encourage grass growth and discourage pests and diseases. Remove leaves and fallen debris, and gently rake to fluff up and separate the grass shoots.

In areas with heavy snowfall, leftover snow piles can smother the grass underneath and foster mold growth. As the weather warms, spread snow piles out with a shovel to encourage melting.

Controlling Weeds

Spring is the best time to prevent weeds by using pre-emergent weed control, which work by preventing weed seeds from germinating. Your first application of a pre-emergent herbicide should occur just as the forsythia bushes finish blooming in spring – that should stop crabgrass and other weeds before they have a chance to grow. Both cool-season and warm-season lawns benefit from weed prevention in the spring. Pre-emergent herbicides work for about three months, so plan on a second application during the summer.

Seeding and Planting

In the spring, gardeners have to choose between weed control and lawn seeding. Pre-emergent herbicides prevent grass seed from sprouting too, so you can’t do both – the herbicide will be active for up to 12 weeks, which means you’ll miss the spring planting season.

If your focus this spring is on filling in bare spots or establishing a new lawn, time your activities according to the type of grass:

Cool-season grasses can be planted as soon as the air temperatures get into the 60s and soil temperatures are in the 50s. Plant as soon as temperatures allow to give the seedlings a chance to get established before hot weather hits. Fall is a better time to plant cool-season grasses, so use spring planting for patching bare spots, and be prepared to keep your lawn well-watered during the summer.
Warm-season grasses can be planted when air temperatures are in the 70s, soil temperatures are in the 60s, and all danger of frost has passed. Late spring is the best time to plant warm-season grasses.

Fertilizing

The type of grass you have also influences when and how you should fertilize your lawn:

Cool-season grasses: Resist the urge to heavily fertilize your lawn in the spring. Spring feeding encourages rapid tender growth that will struggle to survive the heat of summer, particularly in drought-prone areas. If your lawn is in bad shape, fertilize lightly in spring with a balanced, slow-release fertilizer. Save the heavier feedings for fall, when cool-season grasses are at their peak growing season.

Warm-season grasses: Fertilize in late spring as soon as the lawn “greens up” and begins actively growing. This is usually in April or May, after the last frost.

Soil Problems

Spring is a great time to conduct a soil test to find out if your soil needs any amendments. You can apply lime to acidic soil (pH below 6) anytime during the growing season, as long as the grass isn’t wilted or covered with frost. Early spring can be a great time to apply lime if you’ll be planting new grass that year.

Don’t apply lime within 3 weeks of fertilizing, as the ingredients can react and become less effective. Follow the recommendations of your soil test kit and your purchased amendments for proper dosage.

Other Spring Lawn Tasks

Aeration: is best done during your lawn’s peak growing season. For warm-season grasses, this means early to mid-summer. For cool-season grasses, aeration is best saved for fall but can be repeated in spring if the soil is extremely compacted. Wait until your lawn has been mowed 2-3 times in the season, so you’ll be sure it is growing fast enough to recover from the aeration.

Dethatching: also best done during peak growing season, right before aerating.

Mowing: Begin mowing as soon as your lawn needs it – grass blades do best when you cut no more than a third of the blade’s length at a time.

Watering: Once your grass starts growing, you’ll need to make sure your lawn gets at least 1” of water per week. Until then, you can water less frequently but remember that cold air is very drying to plants and lawns.

Insect control: Spring is a good time to address problems with fire ants. Many other insects, such as grubs and mole crickets, may also cause damage to your lawn in spring but are more effectively controlled later in the summer.

Lawn Equipment: Sharpen the blade and tune up your lawn mower, as well as other lawn equipment, to make summer mowing a breeze!

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