How to Prepare for Aeration: Your Before Aeration Checklist

Your aeration and seeding visit is on the calendar. Good news: there's very little you need to do. But a few minutes of prep in the days before makes a real difference, both in how smoothly the visit goes and in how well the new seed comes in. Here's the before aeration checklist we'd hand a neighbor.

The Quick Checklist

• Flag sprinkler heads, invisible dog fence lines, and any shallow buried lines.
• Mow a little shorter than usual a day or two before.
• Water the day before if the soil is dry and hard.
• Clear toys, furniture, hoses, and decorations off the lawn.
• Unlock gates and plan to keep pets inside.

Here's the why behind each one.

Mark What's Under the Grass

A core aerator pulls plugs a couple of inches deep. Most things buried in a lawn are deeper than that, but not all of them. Small marking flags from the hardware store work well, or mark spots with a bit of spray paint.

Sprinkler heads

Flag every head, including the ones that sit flush with the ground and disappear in the grass. If you have an irrigation system, it's worth running each zone briefly beforehand so you can spot heads you'd forgotten about.

Invisible dog fence lines

Boundary wire for an invisible fence is often buried only an inch or two down, right where an aerator works. If you know where it runs, flag the line. If you're not sure, the fence's layout or the company that installed it can help.

Shallow utilities and private lines

Think about anything you or a previous owner may have run across the yard: a cable or internet line, a low-voltage wire to garden lights, a line to a shed or pool. Tennessee 811 can mark public utility lines, but private lines won't be on their map, so flag those yourself. If a whole area is full of lines, let us know. Areas a machine shouldn't go can still be reached with liquid aeration. (Here's how liquid and core aeration compare.)

Mow and Water Ahead of Time

Mow a little shorter

A day or two before the visit, mow a notch lower than usual. For tall fescue, normally kept at 3.5 to 4 inches, that means around 3 inches. Shorter grass lets the aerator reach the soil and lets seed fall into the holes instead of getting caught in the blades. This is one time bagging the clippings makes sense. Just don't scalp it.

Water if the ground is hard

Aeration works best in soil that's moist, not soggy. After a dry stretch, Middle Tennessee clay can get hard enough that the tines barely go in. If it hasn't rained in a while, give the lawn a deep watering the day before. A simple test: push a screwdriver into the soil. If it slides in a few inches without a fight, you're good. If the lawn is squishy or has standing water, skip the watering.

Clear the Lawn and Plan for Pets

Pick up toys, hoses, lawn furniture, dog toys, and decorations, and move anything that can be moved off the grass. The goal is an open lawn so every area gets aerated and seeded evenly.

For pets, pick up any dog waste and keep pets inside during the visit, both for their sake and so gates can stay open. If you won't be home, leave gates unlocked so the whole lawn can be reached. Keep kids and pets off the grass until any liquid applications have dried. Our guide to lawn treatments, kids, and pets covers the details.

What to Expect on the Day

With our Signature Aeration & Seeding, everything happens in one fall visit: core aeration, liquid aeration to work the clay between the holes, overseeding with a Middle Tennessee cultivar mix, and a preventive fungicide to protect the new seedlings. A few things are normal:

• Plugs everywhere. Small soil cores will be scattered across the lawn. Leave them. They break down over a week or two of mowing and rain.
• A little mess. You may see some seed or soil on the driveway or walk. That's fine to sweep or blow back onto the lawn.
• Some noise. Core aerators are loud for a while, then they're gone.

After the Visit

Prep gets the seed in the ground. What you do next is what gets it growing: watering, when to mow again, and what to avoid for the first few weeks. Read what to do after lawn aeration before the visit so you're ready. Questions before your visit? We're happy to answer them. Get your free estimate. No contracts, no surprises.

Related guides: Fall aeration FAQ · Aeration & overseeding in Tennessee