Should You Aerate in Spring or Fall?

Aerating your lawn is an effective way to promote healthy root growth and keep the grass on track for a bright future. While there is little debate with regard to the effectiveness of aerating, you might find some disagreement on when the best time is to aerate. Should you do it in the spring or in the fall? We are going to dive into that discussion in the article below. 

If you’d like to get direct help determining when you are going to aerate your lawn, or if you’d like to hire our team to complete the project for you, reach out to TLC right away for assistance. Aerating a lawn is a task that most homeowners can handle by renting the right equipment and clearing some time in their schedule, but there is nothing like the peace of mind that comes from knowing a professional team is doing the work for you. Either way, TLC is here to help contact us today or check out our gardening services. 

The Simple Answer 

If you want a quick answer to the title question, here it is – aerate your lawn in the fall when possible. By aerating in the fall, you allow the lawn to recover from the process nicely before the cold winter months set in and the grass goes dormant for a while. Then, when spring arrives, you can look forward to a lawn that will be healthy and ready to grow as the temperatures warm up and the days get longer. 

In addition to aerating, fall is also a good time to think about overseeding your lawn after the aeration is complete. With plenty of small little holes for the seeds to duck down into, and often suitable conditions for growing new grass, combining overseeding with aerating is a great plan. This can lead to even better results and an even better looking lawn when spring rolls around. 

An Important Warning

One important thing to keep in mind here is that you need to be sure you are doing this work early enough in the fall to give the lawn time to recover before the coldest of the winter weather arrives. Technically speaking, fall extends all the way into the third week of December, but the average high temperature in December for this part of the world is just 26 degrees – not exactly conditions suitable for growing grass. 

So, when we are talking about fall aeration, what we really mean is the early part of the fall, and maybe even the tail end of the summer. You’ll want to get the work done with plenty of mild days left so your lawn can nicely recover from the maintenance work and head into the winter season as healthy as possible. There is no guarantee when the first bout of cold weather will arrive, so err on the side of getting this done early and you can avoid any trouble from a surprisingly early cold snap. 

Is Spring Aeration a Bad Idea?

It’s great to be able to fit aeration into your fall maintenance schedule, but don’t write it off completely if you don’t make it happen before winter arrives. Spring is also a suitable time to aerate your lawn, and you can watch the weather for warming trends and get to work once you feel like the cold weather has been left in the past. 

In the big picture, aerating in the spring is going to offer the same general benefits as doing it in the fall. You can relieve compaction that has developed over time, and you can overseed after aerating to fill in thin spots and create a lush, beautiful space. Perhaps the most notable drawback to spring aerating is simply that the lawn will be in “maintenance mode” for a little while once the weather warms up, so it won’t start off the growing season looking as great as it would have otherwise. Once the work is done and the lawn has healed, however, you can look forward to a successful summer with healthy green grass on your property. 

Your lawn can benefit from aeration in either the spring or fall. While you might get better results in the end by doing this work in the fall, the more important point is simply to make sure it gets done. Get in touch with our team today to discuss your aeration project and any other gardening maintenance you may need performed on your Jackson, WY property. Thank you for visiting TLC!