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How To Thatch Lawn
By Jared Neilsen
How to thatch lawn
Materials Needed: Garden hose, a matchstick, garden fork, iron rake hand or machine aerator, thatch rake and a leaf rake. Learning how to de thatch your lawn is important if you want to have a good lawn which will look good and grow well. There are a few basic steps involved to de- thatching which will show you how to thatch your lawn. The first step is to determine how compact your lawn is. Then precede to de thatch your lawn. Prick your lawn after de thatching then expand those holes. These four steps will guide you on how to thatch your lawn successfully.
1. Decide how heavy or compact your lawn already is: well tread areas, rapid browning in dry weather, inefficient drainage or waterlogged grass after rains are signs your lawn is to compact. To test for this problem, apply water to your lawn and see how quickly it drains away and how even the drainage of the water is. If the water does not soak in quickly the soil is compacted. Try pressing a match into the soil with your finger. This should not be a difficult or painful exercise.
2. This is the time where you de thatch your lawn: If this process is required, use a rake to break through the thatch and rake away. For larger lawns, you may want to hire a machine to do this for you.
One point to remember however is: differing to general property holder practice, this process should not be done in late spring or during your most active growing season because it exposes the soil, which has a tendency to quickly fill with weeds. You are best to do this just before winter in conjunction with aerating your lawn. We are halfway through showing you how to thatch your lawn.
3. Now you want to spike your lawn: For more or less compressed soil and a restricted area passionately and methodically make punctures in the soil with a garden fork. Make the holes between 5 cm apart and 3 cm deep. For greater expanses of land or to make the task easier, use one of many aerators available from your local hardware store or hire one. Some will resemble a push mower whilst others will be attachments to a power mower.
Another point to remember when learning how to thatch lawn: Aerating is usually easier to do when the soil is moist. For medium-to-large areas, you can hire gas powered spiking machines. You can also do this process when you are feeding your lawn in early spring, but it is most useful straight after de thatching.
4. Now you want to make some holes larger: For heavily packed soil you need to dig deeper and more substantial holes. In sandy soil and limited areas a garden fork will work. Use a similar approach used earlier, but drive the fork into the ground about 3-4 inches and wiggle it back and forth to open the holes.
More useful hints: You may spike the soil every year but don't cut plugs more than once every three years.
Now you have comprehensive coverage on how to de thatch your lawn.
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