Photo: Chiot’s Run

Moving from the cold winter months into spring, garden lovers might want to start preparing their lawns fairly soon so as to gear them toward absolute summer splendour. Right now lawns are struggling a bit and need some tending to. There are many things to incorporate into a lawn maintenance routine, from adding fertiliser to trimming edges, but an essential part of any lawn maintenance routine is scarifying or raking.

Raking helps your lawn thrive

Photo: rachel a. k.

Scarifying is the process of removing thatch from your lawn. Thatch is all the dead plant matter that gathers on your lawn. The problem with thatch is that it tends to suffocate and dehydrate your lawn by hindering water and oxygen from reaching the soil and the roots. There are two ways one can go about scarifying a lawn: raking, or by using a lawn scarifier. Raking a big lawn can be terribly backbreaking, so professionals suggest you use a scarifier. But there are some good rakes out there, if you insist.

Petrol scarifiers vs. electric scarifiers

A lawn only needs to be scarified twice a year, though light scarifying all year round doesn’t hurt. Autumn is the time of year one would need to do heavy duty scarifying to get rid of all the leaves that have fallen from trees. For heavy duty scarifying, a petrol scarifier is the best. It is strong and can handle really bad moss and thatch, without burning out on large lawns. For light scarifying, electric lawn scarifiers are perfectly suited. They struggle with the heavy duty stuff but anything else, they’re ideal. Petrol and electric scarifiers vary in price so you might want to look around first.

Things to remember

Photo: victoriapeckham

It’s best that before you rake the lawn with a lawn scarifier, whether petrol or electric, you kill moss. This reduces the chance of spreading it. Any good garden centre will have a moss killer. Another thing to remember is the blade setting on your scarifier. If you set it to its maximum reach, the blades will cut into the shallow roots of the grass – this is actually a good thing because it allows the grass to form deeper, sturdier roots, meaning a more beautiful lawn. Happy gardening.

Tags: scarifier