Lawn maintenance in St Louis is a three-season job and sometimes a hot summer can make you feel like you’re ready to start over at square one with your grass. Core aeration and overseeding is one of the best things you can do to rebuild and prepare your turf for whatever midwest weather throws your way over the next few seasons. If you’re seeing dull, brown patches now you may even start to see a healthier lawn within a couple of weeks of having your lawn aerated and seeded.
The process of core aeration builds stronger, thicker, greener grass through the next year and can fight off some of the most common lawn problems homeowners experience such as pests, disease, and spotting. Over the course of the spring and summer, your lawn gets more traffic than most other months. The use of machinery and even foot traffic compacts the soil over the course of time, which can start to choke off the grass.
When Frisella Landscape Group aerates your lawn, we use a machine to create small perforations in the grass, allowing moisture, air, and fertilizer to reach the root system. We also perform double pass aeration, which creates more openings in the soil to allow for more oxygen and nutrients to permeate the roots, and promotes more seed germination. One of the keys to core aeration is making sure the right equipment is used, and it is operated in the right way. Misuse can actually work against you, compact the soil more, and it can cause scarring that shows up as large patches during the next growing season.
The next step in the process is overseeding, which is more successful after aeration because the seeds have more nutrients to promote germination. By spreading seed over the entire lawn not only are you adding seed to bare areas, but you are also creating a thicker ground cover throughout the rest of your lawn. When grass has a healthier, thicker root system it is more resistant to weeds and diseases.
When overseeding, you want to make sure you’re covering all of your bases and selecting the right type of grass seed to stand up to the hot St Louis summers. You also want to make sure you’re using a grass type consistent with the rest of your turf and that compliments the rest of your landscaping.
Many homeowners ask themselves whether they should hire a professional landscaping company to take care of their core aeration and overseeding of their lawns in the fall. Not only is the process time consuming for larger yards, even smaller yards can be challenging for homeowners who don’t own or know how to properly operate the equipment needed to properly create the grass plugs without damaging your lawn. Hiring a professional landscaper also means we understand and can anticipate what will improve the look of your lawn in the future.
Frisella Landscaping Group is ready to help take care of your fall lawn maintenance needs. If you’re ready to take the guesswork out of having a thick, lush lawn next spring, give our team a call.