So I want to get my lawn aerated. I have called four places near me and left messages and or emails the past week. Only one responded. Came out to give me an estimate then told me they do not actually do aerating but could power rake my lawn instead. Pass. I really do not want to rent a machine from home depot, then borrow may dads car to get it to my house. While also trying to figure out both how to use the machine and not screw up the job.

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yea i've been trying to get some rocks dug up in the area in front of my house, basically no one will return my call or messages

Almost every company right now is playing catch up from Covid.

Trying to get anything done is challenging right now.

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This is the perfect time to aerate your yard, though I understand your reluctance to rent an aerator. They are very heavy and loading/unloading it is a 2-man job. What I typically do is go in on a rental with a friend and split the cost. Aeration should optimally be done every September but if you skip a year its not going to kill you, not that big of a deal. I aerate and overseed and fertilize the shit out of it in early September and by mid-October it is usually looking great. I hope you find someone who can get the job done for you, it really does make a huge difference. One other thing I do is liquid aeration throughout the year. It isn't the same as physically aeration but it does help and if used regularly you can really promote root strength.

I was watching a guy on Youtube who raked up all the cores after aerating. I always thought you left them on the lawn.

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pool construction and landscaping are at a premium right now. i wouldn't expect any responses this fall.

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@audioidkid

DEFINITELY leave them. They are ugly for a very short period but they break down and return to the soil very quickly. If you seed immediately after aerating, the broken down cores provide extra soil coverage for the seeds. And if you have a healthy yard you dont want to remove all that good, healthy soil.

Aerating is honestly one of those things where it's probably best to just borrow the equipment and do it yourself.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

It isn't a super-hard job once you get going, but loading/unloading it from the truck is a pain in the ass and is a two-man job. Aerating a lawn is a pretty good workout too, that fucker is heavy and hard to turn if you have a smaller lawn.

I’ve rented those heavy ass machines. Easy work except for getting them in and out. On a related note, add pest companies to the list of hard to hire. I have trenching my WI property, and the places are months out.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

There is no incentive right now for small (under $300) jobs.

I looked into that but they want me to buy a package and not just the aeration and over seed.

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Can't you just take a pitch fork and jab a few hundred holes into thelawn.

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They also sell manual "step on" aerators that cut plugs but it would take you hours to do any kind of bigger lawn. I've used them for smaller patches of grass that I wanted to seed.

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Get this strap on cleats with 14-20 4” spikes on each foot and cut the grass.

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Elections have consequences.

I've got a lot of crabgrass in my lawn. There are some large swaths I would like to eliminate. Should I dig it up right now and reseed?

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Call them and negotiate with them. I used them to do my aeration. They tried to include a package and I told them just spray 3 times a year and forget the other shit.

So typically getting rid of crabgrass is a springtime "preventative" job. I lay down a product called Prodiamine in a couple of doses, first in mid-spring and then again about a month or 6 weeks later. There are other preventatives that are more easy to find at a big-box store, the most common be Scotts with "Halts" that is a combo crabgrass preventer with fertilizer. I use only organic fertilizer, so i like to keep my weed control separate from my fertilizer, but I am sure the Scotts product works fine as well. Once your crabgrass germinates and starts to grow, you are pretty much SOL for the year UNLESS you have a small enough area where actually pulling out by hand is an option. If that is the case, sure, you can totally pull it out (getting as much of the roots as possible) and immediately re-seed. The problem you may have is if the crabgrass has already gone to seed and the seeds are already in your yard waiting for Spring. Either way, I dont think you can go wrong pulling out what you can now and seeding so that the grass starts grown this fall so that in the spring at very least the crabgrass will have some competition. Definitely try to address any wide-spread crabgrass problems next Spring before it germinates and starts growing.

Most of the bigger lawn services make you buy a package of some kind. If you can find a smaller / local company...you'll have better luck getting a specific service.

Agreed on crabgrass....gotta get that preventative shit down nice and early to control it.

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what kind of political shit can be said to get this thread moved ??

The South lawn of the White House has never looked worse than after Trump held his own political rally and convention there, shit for breath.

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Called trugreen and got a different person this time. Was able to just get aeration and over seed. This lady didn't even try to get me to purchase anything else. Cost $190 after taxes. Probably would have cost me around $130-140 to do myself taking rental cost and seed purchase into consideration. But now I do not have to worry about getting that machine to my house and figuring out how to use it properly.

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MOVE

K's got it!

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Thanks for the advice. I've got big patches of crabgrass and would like to begin addressing it now by digging it out and reseeding. If I use a preventative chemical next spring, I'll have to wait until the fall to plant additional seed, right?

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I found that where my lawn company put crabgrass killer I cannot get patch seed to grown. As an aside I would like to add in driveway dealer companies. No phone answering and then they say 500-700 due to demand and backup.

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Elections have consequences.

Here is my personal take - Weeds in the Spring, Seeds in the Fall, meaning I never seed in the spring and i use that time to attack weeds and crabgrass. That's not to say you cant seed in the spring, because you can. The problem is that quite often it is hard to combat crabgrass and grow seed at the same time, since the pre-emergent herbicides will also prevent grass seed from germinating. Spring is 100% the time you want to attack weeds and crabgrass so seeding in the late summer/early fall is usually the best play. That said I would go ahead and remove what ever crabgrass you can now if you want to get a head start and seed, but I would seed very soon. You really want you new grass to come up and harden for winter by Halloween and depending on what kind of grass you plant germination can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks. Then come next Spring you will be in great shape to lay down a pre-emergent without hurting your new grass you plant his fall.

https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/g ... 034797.htm

Use this shit. My neighbor has bad crabgrass and it always creeps into my yard. The stuff I put on in early spring works for a little while. I keep a few of these on hand to spray when it starts up in my lawn. It disappears in a week and lasts the rest of the year. Snuff it out early so it doesnt kill your lawn.

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Mulli is Howard Stern in his prime compared to Haugh.

That's a good suggestion, it definitely beats pulling it out by hand if you have a large area. You can also get it in concentrate and use a spray can which is even better. Just remember in the spring it is better to use pre-emergent and not let the crabgrass even germinate, that is how you will truly get a handle on it. Next years seed is likely already in the soil so sprays will kill the plant you see today, it wont prevent the seeds from germinating in the spring.