How to bring a tired lawn back with aerating and feeding

A tired lawn is usually hungry and compacted, not dead

The first instinct when a lawn goes patchy and hard is to rip the lot out and start again, and that's the expensive answer to a problem that's usually much smaller than it looks. Most worn out lawns around here are suffering from compacted soil and nothing much going back into them, and both of those are fixable without lifting a single square of turf.

Why it happens in the first place

Soil under a lawn gets walked on, mowed over and driven across, and it packs down hard over the years. Once it's compacted, water runs off the surface instead of soaking in, air can't get to the roots, and whatever you spread on top mostly sits there. The grass isn't failing because it's the wrong grass, it's failing because nothing can get down to where the roots are.

Step one, get some holes in it

Aerating means putting holes through the surface so water and air and feed can get down. A garden fork does this perfectly well on a domestic lawn. Push it in about 10cm, rock it back to open the hole up, pull it out, and move about 15cm along. It's a genuinely boring job and it's the one that makes everything after it work, so don't skip it and go straight to the fertiliser.

Step two, feed it

With the holes in, spread a lawn fertiliser and then water it in deeply so it washes down to the roots rather than sitting on the leaf. Look for something that gives you nitrogen for leaf growth along with potassium for toughness, since a lawn that's had a hard time needs both. Follow the rate on the bag and resist the urge to go heavy, because the usual result of doubling the dose is a burnt lawn on top of a tired one.

How long it actually takes

You'll see colour coming back in about a week or two through the warmer months, and noticeably slower when it's cold, because grass growing slowly takes up feed slowly. Filling in the bare patches properly takes a season rather than a fortnight. Anyone promising you a transformed lawn by the weekend is selling something, and the honest version is that this works and it works at the pace grass grows.

Water deeply and not often

A long soak once or twice a week beats a light sprinkle every evening, because the roots follow the water down and a lawn with deep roots handles a hot spell far better than one whose roots are all sitting in the top few centimetres. If water is pooling or running off rather than soaking in, that's the compaction telling you it needs the fork again.

And stop cutting it so short

Scalping a lawn is the fastest way to weaken it, because short grass can't photosynthesise properly and it lets light down to every weed seed sitting in the soil. Around 5cm is a sensible height for most home lawns, and taller grass shades the ground, holds moisture and crowds weeds out without you doing anything else about them.

The patches that still won't come good

Once the rest of the lawn has picked up, whatever is still bare probably needs seed rather than more feed. Rough the surface up, sow into it, keep it damp until it strikes, and keep off it while it establishes.

Shop related products

• Neutrog Blade Runner Lawn Fertiliser 15kg. An organic based lawn feed for a decent sized yard.
• Brunnings Green Up Lawn Food 5kg. The straightforward one for getting colour back.
• Brunnings Turbo Patch Repairer 800g. For the bare spots that need more than feeding.
• Brunnings Tough Lawn Seed 1kg. To sow back into the thin areas once the soil is open.

Did you know we stock garden forks in the shop, and a fork is all you need to aerate a home lawn. Garden hand tools aren't on the website, so ring us on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's there.

The garden centre carries the lawn feed and the seed, so have a look through the garden range, or bring a photo of the worst patch in and we'll tell you what we reckon.

Read next

• How to look after a lawn without harsh chemicals
• How to choose the right grass variety for your climate
• Sudden Impact for Lawns 10kg, what it does

Aerating a lawn with a fork is the least interesting hour of my gardening year and I still do it, which tells you something about how well it works.

Cheers,
Candeece