Lawns usually represent the largest and most visible part of most gardens and when they are lush, green and healthy they form one of their most striking features. However, when your lawn is unhealthy it can be just as visibly striking and not in a good sense. One of the most common conditions that lead to poor lawn health is over compaction and one of the easiest ways of addressing this problem is regularly using a walk behind aerator.
Over a period of time, and particularly with high traffic levels, a lawns top layer (approximately 4 inches) of plant "thatch" and soil becomes hard and compressed. This condition leads to diminished water, nutrient and oxygen distribution in the critical top layer of the lawn which in turn leads to a drop in the general condition of the grass.
The best way to avoid this situation is to periodically aerate your lawn. This refers to a process where spiked rollers are applied to the lawn to loosen the top thatch and turf and allow for new growth and better nutrient distribution. Depending on what type of grass the lawn is made up of this process is best carried out in fall for cold weather varieties, or spring for warm weather grass.
Lawn aerators generally work in one of two ways - spiking or coring. Spike aerators simply work by pushing spikes into the soil that arranged in rows on a revolving drum. Core aerators are constructed in the same fashion but have hollow pins instead of spikes that extract a plug or core of soil and thatch. Core aerating is seen by many lawn fundi as the better and more effective process but this depends on personal experience and preference.
Lawn aerators can be light push types for smaller lawns or larger models that can be towed behind a ride on lawn mower. Probably one of the most popular and convenient types though is the walk behind aerator. These models are suitable for mid sized lawns and are a lot easier to use than their push around cousins.
Walk behind aerators are driven by the same mechanical process that drives walk behind mowers and edgers. The aeration process is carried out in the usually manner with a spiked or core-plug roller sharing the aerator drive. This tends to make the aerating process a lot more effective and even than conventional push models.
These push or tow types usually need to weighed down with something to be truly effective particularly on bumpy lawns. The weight of the walk behind models drive unit which is located on top of the machine does away with this issue and the aeration process tends to be more consistent.
The self driven nature of walk behind aerators makes dealing with larger lawns easy and many models include auxiliary attachments such as seed or fertilizer spreaders which allow for two jobs to be carried at the same time.
Walk behind aerators are a real plus for the gardener with a large lawn and their consistent and efficient operation goes a long way ensuring that your lawn is kept in tip top condition ever year.
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