Essential care for a healthy lawn

Help your lawn to thrive, not just survive with Aeration and Scarification! As we near the end of Summer, Autumn is a very important season for your grass. 

Lush green lawns in Spring don’t just appear overnight, the preparation starts now. Aeration and Scarification are essential to maintaining a healthy lawn, improving its overall strength and happiness. 

What is Aeration? 

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7gMqSBHA6U&t=83s

Aeration relieves compaction and creates open spaces in the soil. Although there are a few different types of Aeration, hollow-tine and fracture-tine are the best for lawns. Your local GreenThumb branch will recommend the one most suited to the condition of your lawn. 

How does GreenThumb know if my lawn needs Aerating?

We check the lawn by taking a number of cores samples in a variety of places over the lawn. The process of taking a core sample allows us to take a closer look at the levels of sub-surface thatch and what the soil is like. We will be able to tell how compacted the soil is by examining the conditions of the roots and how tight knit the soil is. This evidence provides us with enough information to recommend Aeration for compaction. Likewise the thickness of sub-surface thatch tells us if Aeration is needed.
 
What is Scarification? 

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dur_tqKEbF0

Surface thatch naturally forms on a lawn. However, when it gets too thick it prevents important elements such as water, fertiliser, and oxygen from getting to the grass roots. The result is a mossy and spongy lawn. Scarification removes most of the surface thatch and should be a feature of any good annual lawn maintenance programme. It can initially make the lawn look a bit of a mess, but trust us, it will recover! 

How can GreenThumb tell if my lawn needs Scarification?

Do you find your lawn suffers with moss in the autumn and winter time? Is the lawn spongy under foot? These are often signs that the lawn needs to be Scarified. We also take core samples from the lawn and look at the depth of thatch below and above the soil line. Excess thatch above the soil line indicates a need for Scarification.

What are the benefits of Aeration and Scarification? 

• Removes compaction and breaks down thatch – one of the main contributors to moss growth.
• Reduces/removes the moss loving environment.
• Allows much needed air, water, and nutrients to reach the root zone of the grass plants, resulting in a much healthier lawn.
• Assists surface drainage and discourages fungal growth.
• Ensures your lawn remains healthy and able to fight off the vast majority of lawn problems.
• An overall healthier lawn.
• Makes lawn treatments more effective! 

Less moss, more lawn

Moss is most prevalent during autumn and winter. It thrives in damp conditions and unless you tackle the cause, it will keep coming back. That’s why machine work is standard practice of good lawn care. 

Thatch

Thatch naturally builds up over the year and prevents essential nutrients from getting to the lawn. Annual Aeration and Scarification helps to keep thatch down to acceptable levels.

Learn about Thatch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeTehoc6pqI

Book your Machine Work

To benefit from Aeration and Scarification, you can save up to 18% and join our Standard Programme. In addition to providing you with annual Aeration and Scarification, you will also receive four core treatments between January and December, plus an application of Oasis applied between April and August. 

View the full package here: https://www.greenthumb.co.uk/lawn-care-programmes/standard-programme

Or you could join our Ultimate Programme – the all-encompassing Lawn Care package! Including everything to give you the ultimate lawn! Along with a generous discount of up to 30% by Direct Debit when compared to the cost of individual treatments.

View the full package here: https://www.greenthumb.co.uk/lawn-care-programmes/ultimate-programme