09/05/2026
Does your lawn look thin, brown, and stressed? Hot, dry summers and lawn traffic (people, pets, and lawn mowers) can take a toll on your lawn. Late summer or early fall is the ideal time to revitalize your lawn. Aeration and overseeding can breathe new life into a stressed lawn. Core aeration – which removes plugs of soil from the lawn – is an effective way to reduce soil compaction. Soil aeration is done by a machine that you can rent from local rental centers. Most lawn service companies also perform the task for a fee. While the plugs are initially unsightly, they break down over time and disappear. Typically, aeration should be done every 2-4 years to reduce compaction. Heavy clay soils as well as lawns subject to heavy traffic may need aeration every year
Does your lawn need aeration? When the lawn is moist, try taking a screwdriver and inserting it into several places around the lawn. If it is hard to push it into the ground, your lawn is likely compacted and a good candidate for aeration. Clemson has a lot of information on dealing with compaction: https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/aerating-lawns/
Fall is also a great time of year to overseed – sow new grass seed into your existing lawn. Overseeding has several benefits. It allows you to fill in bare spots, helps choke out weeds, and introduces new, better seed. In fall temperatures are lower, weeds are not as plentiful, and cool season grasses such as fescue, ryegrass, and bluegrass germinate and grow at a faster rate. Overseeding is a good solution if more than half of your lawn is still healthy. Merely spreading seed on top of the lawn generally will not be sufficient. Instead, adequate contact between the soil and seed is needed for best germination. If you are overseeding just a small patch of lawn, lightly raking in the seed manually will provide that contact. However, if you are overseeding a larger area, core aerating before overseeding will enable the seed to settle into the soil. You can fertilize after overseeding. You will need to water regularly so the seeds germinate, and the seedlings get established. The application rate (the amount of seed needed per lawn area) depends on the type of grass. The label on the grass seed will provide that information. For more information about overseeding and aerating, University of Wisconsin has a downloadable pamphlet that contains a lot of information on refreshing your lawn: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/lawn-aeration-and-topdressing/
This is also a perfect time to reevaluate your yard and consider converting an area of lawn into a small wildflower or pollinator garden or just adding a native tree or shrub. Information on plants, conditions, and garden diagrams are found : https://extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/pollinator-pockets If not this fall, think about it over the winter….
