Dear Alison

Many thanks for your recent message regarding when and how to aerate your lawn. Our experience tending the lawned areas around our Harrod Horticultural Kitchen Garden has shown that aerating the lawn is only required once a year in spring, and we’ve used a hollow tine aerator each time. This piece of equipment actually removes cores of soil from the lawn and by doing so relieves compaction, increases the airflow through the grass and roots and allows a better uptake of nutrients and water – the lawn loves it! I’m inclined to recommend a hollow tine aerator over a roller due to the fact the latter can add to lawn compaction.

Some gardeners who hold their lawn dear take the opportunity to apply a top dressing at this stage, and of course you can scarify the lawn surface to remove moss as long as the lawn is growing strongly (eg spring and autumn). Try the Spring Tine Rake, Wolf Moss Removal Rake or the Sneeboer Scarifying Rake.

You can view these tools, and the Hollow Tine Aerator we supply, on this website and our Kitchen Garden updates, which usually feature a sound bite or two from Dave, the head gardener of the formal gardens which surround our Kitchen Garden, are well worth checking out.

Martin