Scarification & Aeration
Removing thatch and relieving compaction — the two mechanical jobs that decide whether anything else you do to a lawn has an effect.
- September–October
- Best season
- 3–5 weeks
- Recovery
- Hollow tine or solid
- Aeration
- Removed as standard
- Debris
Scarification & Aeration
From £180
If a lawn has more than about 12mm of thatch, feed and water are not reaching the roots. It sits in the spongy layer, the grass roots into the thatch instead of the soil, and the lawn becomes completely dependent on you — brilliant in a wet June, dead by the end of a dry August.
Scarification pulls that layer out mechanically. It looks alarming: a lawn that goes into it looking tired comes out looking wrecked, with barrows of brown material off it and bare soil showing. It recovers in three to five weeks in autumn and it is the single most effective thing we do.
Aeration is the other half. We hollow-tine on compacted lawns — the ones with clay under them, or a trampoline that has been in the same spot for four years — and leave the cores to break down or take them away, whichever you prefer. On a badly compacted lawn we would rather aerate twice a year than feed at all.
Our other services
6 Treatment, 5 Visit™ Programme
Our year-round programme, built around what your soil test actually says rather than a standard schedule. Five visits, six treatments, one technician who knows your lawn.
For tired or worn lawns
For lawns too far gone for a treatment plan but not far enough gone to dig up. Scarify hard, aerate, overseed, top dress — one autumn, and a different lawn by May.
A fresh start
When the lawn underneath is beyond saving. We handle the part that decides everything — what is under the turf — rather than just the part you can see.
Free first visit and a written plan.
We measure the lawn, test the soil and tell you what it needs. No charge and no obligation, and if it does not need us we will say so.