Best impliment to aerate the lawn?

Hey guys,

I got some great advice from this forum a few years ago about repairing my lawn - the advice worked a treat! So thanks again! :thmb:

This year I plan to aerate the lawn again (didn't do it last year) and I was just wondering what impliment is best to use for making the holes? In the garden centres I've seen shoe type things with spikes and a rotary spike machine thing - has anyone got any advice on these?

I used a garden fork last time and it was back breaking work and took aaaages!

Also just to recap, I need to rake the moss out, aerate the ground and brush in a mixture of sharp sand and topsoil? Can I re-seed any bare patches at the same time btw?

Many thanks for your advice.

 

Thanks for your reply. Do you mean chemicals? Never heard of lawn sand - how does it kill the moss exactly?

I cannot be having an aching back this year - I've a newborn to look after so just trying to look for a quicker less effort way of aerating it all - I may get some of those shoe spike things and send the step kids out with them on to play! lol!

 

"I don't think you can beat the fork & the rake I am afraid"

Of course you can..... a scarifiyer a aerator.

http://www.hss.com/g/62316/Lawn-Scarifier-Thatcher-Petrol.html

and

http://www.hss.com/g/62313/Lawn-Aerator.html

or for a big area a petrol powerd hollow tiner:

http://www.hss.com/g/62326/Powered-Lawn-Aerator-Petrol.html

 

Thanks for all your replies guys!

I don't think I can use any sort of chemical on my grass as I have two free range bunnies who like to munch on the grass?

I will give those two devices a closer inspection next time i'm at the garden centre and make a decision, as I don't think I'll have the time to fork it all, this year!

 

Ooh they look good - better than buying, thanks for the links!

As I'm a bit of a garden novice - what exactly does Lawn-Scarifier-Thatcher-Petrol do?

 

Honey - save your money. Wack the fork in the lawn to about ½ the depth of the tine, jumping on it if you have to!, and wiggle it about to enlarge the hole before lifting it out. And a nice wire rake is just as effective for scarifying and a fraction of the cost. And, as Marley pointed out, you get a good work out with it as well!

 

"As I'm a bit of a garden novice -what exactly does a Lawn Scarifier do? "

It rakes up the thatch and moss from the base of the lawn.

A rake and fork will only be ok if the lawn is very small and hard work at that, for a large lawn best to hire the corect equipment.

 

A spring tine rake is what you need to scarifi the lawn, i would recommend a hollow tiner which pulls out plugs from the lawn, this will allow more air and fertilizers to get right into the soil and encourage a stronger root systems. The plugs can be swept off the lawn and added to the compost bins.
garden forks are ok but youll find that when the fork goes into the soil it just pushes the soil further down compacting,where as a hollow tine actually pulls the soil out.

Hope this helps :plant:

 

"A spring tine rake is what you need to scarifi the lawn"

Unless it is a very small lawn a springtine rake is a waste of time. To do the job properly use either an electric or better a petrol scarifiyer.

 

True, forgot to mention about using a rake on a small lawn. On med to large lawns i use an Apache VT36 petrol scarifier

 

I found this much easier than a normal rake
http://www.garden4less.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=UGM