Here’s why every homeowner should finish the summer season with aeration

By Beth Newcomb

One of the most overlooked yet vital aspects of maintaining a beautiful healthy lawn is aeration.

“People invest in mowing, fertilizing and watering their lawn, but they often skip this important step,” says Correy Petz, owner of EverGreen Turf Solutions. “Aeration perforates the soil with small holes to allow air, water and nutrients to penetrate to the grass roots. This helps the roots grow deeply and produce a stronger, more vigorous lawn in the springtime.”

Correy says lawns could use aeration if one or more of the following conditions apply:

• Your lawn enjoyed the pitter patter of little feet all summer, pets, and even you walking and running around on the lawn, which caused the soil to compact.
• You built a house and put your lawn in afterward. The soil is often compacted from construction traffic.
• Your lawn was established by laying sod. Sod creates soil layering, which leads to compaction and poor root development. Aeration breaks up the layers.
• Your lawn dries out easily and has excessive thatch. A heavy thatch layer, greater than a half-inch, requires aeration.
• Your lawn is thinning or is thinner than it used to be. The roots can’t establish themselves because the soil is too compact.

“Fall is a perfect time to aerate because temperatures are a bit cooler,” Correy suggests.

EverGreen Turf Solutions offers aeration for lawns of any size, at an affordable price. In fact, an acre of aeration will run you just $150. Smaller areas start at $75.

A key benefit of aeration as noted above is that it helps your grass to get thicker and grow stronger roots, which helps to choke out crabgrass.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls from people who need help eliminating crabgrass from their lawn,” Correy says.

“Even if you aren’t on our fertilization program, we can come out and rid your lawn of crabgrass and aerate it at the same time. We can also add you to our end-of-season schedule and get two to three more fertilization applications down at an affordable price. Oftentimes we’re cheaper than doing it yourself.”

Correy says these last few fertilizer applications, along with aeration, are the keys to preparing your lawn for a strong showing in the spring. And, if you get on EverGreen’s monthly fertilization program for next year, in the unlikely event crabgrass rears its ugly head, Correy and his team will come out and treat it for free.

“It’s just part of our service,” he notes. “With a season heavy on rain like the one we had this year, the crabgrass prevention included in fertilizer can get diluted. Our customers don’t have to worry about that because we include any additional prevention like crabgrass in our service offering.”

Correy says the importance of fertilizing monthly goes beyond keeping your lawn lush. “Weeds and invasives come in cycles,” he notes. “We’re out of dandelion season, but we’re gearing up for chickweed. These end-of-season applications help you finish the year off weed free, and start the new season strong in the spring.”

Your Friend and Neighbor
“My family and I live in Medina. I grew up in Strongsville and my wife, Sarah, grew up in Brunswick. We’re very involved in the community,” Correy adds. “My customers aren’t just customers. They’re my friends and neighbors.”

Sons Jackson, 9, and Logan, 8, round out the Petz crew.

“We charge a fair price for a quality job. Period,” Correy says.

And with a few more fertilization applications left, now might be a perfect time to give Correy and his team a test drive.

Headquartered in Medina, EverGreen Turf Solutions creates lush lawns all over Medina, Summit and Cuyahoga Counties. For more information and an instant quote, call 330-662-0123 or visit MyEvergreenTurf.com. Hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. EverGreen offers a money-saving fertilization program that lasts all season and ranges from four to six applications. If you sign up for the 2020 season now, you’ll enjoy half off your first application in the spring.