GreenThumb's Expert Lawn Aeration Services for Healthier Lawns

What is Lawn Aeration?

Lawn Aeration is the process of using a lawn aerator to poke small holes in your soil so that the grass can receive water, air, and the vital nutrients it needs to grow as healthy as possible. It’s a crucial part of lawn care and can improve the overall health and appearance of your lawn.

Aeration on lawn is the most effective way of reducing sub-surface thatch and soil compaction in lawns. Compacted soil causes shallow roots, stunting grass growth and encouraging the development of moss.

If your lawn needs aerating, you may find the soil is hard to touch, waterlogged lawn when it rains, and your lawn is spongy underfoot. A garden aerator or grass aerator can help address these issues by improving the soil structure.

Illustration of how lawn aeration works, "lawn aeration, when to aerate lawn, hollow tine aeration

The benefits of Lawn Aeration are:

Relieves compaction in the soil.
Thins out below-the-surface thatch.
Reduces/removes the moss loving environment.
Allows air, water and nutrients to reach the root zone.
Encourages grass root development.
Improves the lawn’s ability to cope with drought and disease.
An overall healthier lawn.

At GreenThumb we offer both Hollow-tine Aeration and Fracture-tine Aeration.

Hollow-tine Aeration Using a hollow tine aerator, this method involves removing small plugs of soil to create aeration holes throughout the lawn. These holes allow air, water, and nutrients to penetrate deeply into the root zone. It’s an effective way of reducing thatch and compaction in your lawn, improving its overall health.

Fracture-tine Aeration In contrast, fracture-tine aeration doesn’t remove soil plugs but instead creates slits in the lawn with the twist of the blade. This method fractures the soil and allows air to circulate without leaving any visible cores on the surface of the lawn. It’s a less invasive method, perfect for lawns that don’t have severe compaction issues.

At GreenThumb, we offer both hollow-tine aeration and fracture-tine aeration as part of our lawn aeration treatment options. We recommend aeration in lawn as an essential part of our turf aeration services to keep your lawn looking lush and vibrant. We also suggest completing scarification after aerating your lawn to achieve the best results for lawn care aeration. We include an Aeration Service with both our Standard and Ultimate Treatment Programmes.

Types of Aeration

Hollow-tine Aeration
Hollow-tine Aeration is an effective way to thin-out sub-surface thatch in a lawn. It does this by mechanically removing thousands of cores from the lawn allowing essential water, air, and nutrients access to the root zone.
$A diagram of fracture time aeration$

Fracture-tine Aeration
Fracture-tine Aeration is a mechanical process that involves cutting tiny slits into the lawn. With the twist of the blade, the tines act as a small spade, fracturing the soil and adding air. No soil is removed during this process so no cores are left on the lawn.

Watch our Rules of Thumb video on 'Aeration' here:

Load video: Watch our Rules of Thumb video on 'Spring Ready'

Frequently Asked Questions

When can I start using GreenThumb?

You can adopt our services at any time of the year. There is never a ‘bad time’ to start improving your lawn.

Do I have to be at home when you come and treat my lawn?

The majority of our customers are not at home when we call. Since all our vehicles and Lawn Operatives are self-sufficient, we can carry out your treatments as long as we have access to the lawns.

If you would prefer to be in when we are treating your lawn, we will do our best to accommodate your request.

I have children and /or pets. What should I be aware of?

We recommend that you keep off the lawn until any liquid part of the treatment has dried (approx. 2 hours). This stops it being walked off. And this is especially true of our NutraGreen Autumn Long Treatment, we recommend that you keep off the lawn for more than 2 hours then as it could stain a carpet or wooden floor, if it were walked into the home.

Grazing pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs should be kept off the lawn for a minimum of two weeks or three cuts, whichever occurs latest, to avoid ingestion of Ragwort, in particular, which becomes poisonous to them as it dies back.

Do I have to sign a contract?

No, we want our customers to continue with GreenThumb based on our merits in creating a healthier, greener lawn for them - not because they are stuck in a contract. Of course, with our treatment programmes, you will need to sign a Direct Debit Mandate with the relevant T&C's which relate to this payment option.

What happens when you visit?

When we visit, we take several core soil samples, which will allow us to determine how compacted the soil is and examine the condition of the roots. Although there are a few different types of Aeration, professional hollow-tine and professional fracture-tine are the best for lawns. We will recommend the one most suited to the condition of your lawn.

When should you aerate your lawn?

GreenThumb carry out Aeration during the out-of-season growing period, which is usually Spring and Autumn as this gives the root zone the greatest opportunity to receive water and air.

What happens to the cores left over from Aeration?

Some lawns may benefit from the cores being left on the lawn, going over them with a rotary mower (without the collector) which turns the cores into a form of dressing, but this is only applicable to certain soil types.

Your local GreenThumb will recommend the best way to get rid of the cores depending on your soil type, they may also offer a service to
collect them.

How much does it cost for my lawn to be aerated?

If you would like to know how much this service costs for your lawn just get in touch with your local branch.

Find your local branch

With over 220 branches across the UK, you’re never too far from a GreenThumb lawn care specialist.

Locate your local branch for a free lawn analysis and estimate - simply enter your postcode in our branch finder.

GreenThumb Lawn Aeration