Hello,

I'm looking at aerating my lawn, as I now have one that's in reasonable condition and I want to keep it that way.

I was going to start doing it by using a fork but then read that core aeration's far better, as using a fork actually compacts the soil. I then looked into this and saw sites saying that you should leave the cores on the surface as when they breakdown that helps the lawn. Then I also read that you should put sand on afterwards.

So, I've got a few questions that I hoped more knowledgeable people could answer.


1) For a normal, garden lawn that's just intended to be a lawn that looks ok is there really and need to use a core aerator rather than just using a fork?

2) If I did buy a core aerator, should I leave the plugs it extracts on the surface like I've heard you should? I'd have thought that on a garden lawn I'd end up with a muddy mess if I did that!

3) Is it necessary to apply sand afterwards? I don't doubt it's better to do it, but is it essential?


Thanks is advance!