Core aeration and overseeding are two lawn care services that are performed in Ohio to improve the health and appearance of your lawn. Core aeration involves removing small cores of soil to loosen compaction and make it easier for nutrients and other resources to reach the roots of your grass. Overseeding involves spreading grass seeds on your lawn to fill in bare or patchy areas with new growth. To get the best results from both, they should be combined. That's because when you overseed your lawn after it has been aerated, the seeds will fall into the holes created during the process, giving them excellent seed-to-soil contact and increasing their chances of germinating successfully.

What is core aeration?

Tines of an aerator pulling soil plugs from a lawn in Mansfield, OH.

Core aeration is a lawn care service that involves removing small cores of soil from your lawn using a machine called an aerator. This process helps loosen up compacted soil and creates tiny holes in the surface, which act as passageways for nutrients and other resources, like water, air, and sunlight, to reach the roots of your grass more easily. By improving the flow of these resources to the roots, it will be able to absorb more of them, resulting in a healthier, stronger lawn.

What is overseeding?

Grass seeds across a bare patch of a lawn in Mansfield, OH.

Overseeding is a lawn care service that involves spreading grass seeds on your lawn to promote new growth. This service is designed to fill in any bare or patchy areas with new grass, increasing its overall density. A dense lawn not only looks great but also has many other benefits. For instance, it will be better equipped to fight off weeds because they will have less space to establish themselves, as well as diseases. It will also be better able to withstand environmental stressors like drought and heat.

A blend of Kentucky bluegrass and ryegrass seeds, as well as turf-type tall fescue seeds, is commonly used for overseeding in Ohio!

Why should core aeration and overseeding always be combined?

While core aeration and overseeding are both great lawn care services on their own, they are even better when combined. That's because when you overseed your lawn after it has been aerated, the seeds will fall into the holes created during the process. This gives them excellent seed-to-soil contact, increasing their chances of successfully germinating and establishing themselves in your soil. What's more, the holes will provide the seeds with protection from wind, rain, and animals that might otherwise blow or wash them away or eat them.

If you were to overseed your lawn without first aerating it, the seeds would just sit on top of your lawn. This means that they would have less contact with the soil, reducing their chances of germinating. On the other hand, if you were to aerate without overseeding it, you would be missing out on the opportunity to increase the density of your lawn. So, to get the best results for your turf, you should always combine these two services!

Give us a call today to sign up for our core aeration and overseeding services.

At Free Spray Lawn Care, we offer both core aeration and overseeding services to support your lawn's health and make it thicker! We provide these services in the fall, in September and October, to ensure optimal conditions. Aeration is the first step, followed by the spreading of a Kentucky bluegrass and ryegrass seed blend, or turf-type tall fescue seeds, to yield the best results from both.

We serve residential and commercial property owners in Mansfield, Wooster, Strongsville, and nearby cities in Ohio. Give us a call at 419-529-5296 to sign up for our core aeration and overseeding services today!