26-04-2011, 10:01 AM
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Registered User
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2011
Posts: 10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by [_2_]
On Apr 23, 7:21*am, wrote:[i]
At garden shops or online you can find simple soil test kits that will
let
you test the soil PH. You don't say the area involved, but aerating
by
hand anything but the smallest areas isn't practical. I'd rent a core
aerator from a tool rental place. That takes out plugs about 5/8" in
diameter and 2 inches deep. It also obviously REMOVES soil to
open it up, where as using a fork creates tiny holes by pushing
the soil to the side, ie compacting it elsewhere.
After core aeration, I'd consider topdressing with a mix of humus,
which could be one or more of topsoil, peat moss, compost, sand
, etc, depending on what the compostion is of what you have now,
what you have available locally, etc. You also might want to wait
to do the above until Fall and re-seed at the same time. If you
have crap grass and want a nice, uniform lawn, might be best
to kill it all off with Roundup in late summer, then renovate.
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I`ve already done the airation with a fork, and dethatched the lawn with a rake, it took me 2-3 days but its done. and as a poor student I truly can`t afford to buy/hire expencive equipment.
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