Wisconsin’s favorite season of the year has arrived – fall! Packer football, crisp autumn air, vibrant blue skies, brightly colored leaves, pumpkin patches, apple orchards, Halloween décor, chili (WITH the noodles), and the list goes on and on! Now is also the ideal time to focus on ensuring our lawns not only withstands the harsh winter, but also ensure that they are fully prepared to grow back thick and strong in the spring.
We have prepared a Seven Step Series in Preparing Your Wisconsin Lawn for Winter. Now that Step #1 is completed, let’s move on Step #2: **Important Note: In Wisconsin, these two services – Winterizer Fertilizer and Fall Aeration – can be done interchangeably. Step #1 and Step #2 can be done together or separately and can be done in any order, and your lawn will receive the same results. The only time you would need to choose a time preference would be if you were planning on overseeding or reseeding your lawn, in which case we would perform Fall Aeration sooner rather than later, because, in Wisconsin, early Fall is the ideal time to plant grass.**
Step #2: Fall Aeration
What is Fall Aeration? Our technicians perform Fall Aeration by using machines (large or small, depending on the size of the property) that puncture holes about 4 inches into the ground. The machine creates these holes by pulling up plugs of soil. Once these plugs of soil are removed, there is more space for grass seeds to germinate, creating a richer and thicker lawn.
Aeration is a necessity for compact lawns. A compact lawn would include one that tends to be drier, a lawn that has been rolled, a lawn that has trouble growing grass, etc. Aeration is also a desirable luxury even for lawns that might not be too compact. Whether it’s more a necessity or a luxury for your lawn, Fall Aeration provides a highly accessible way for fresh air, water and nutrients to be supplied directly into the roots of your grass. When the roots of your grass can receive these directly, it creates a very strong growth system for the grass in the Spring. Read more about the many other benefits of Fall Aeration here.
Our General Manager, Dylan, explains the Aeration process in more depth in this video:
To find out what to do with the plugs of soil left all over your lawn, read the article How to Clean Up My Lawn After Aeration.