All the late winter rains have been great, and I can’t wait to see all of the wildflowers that should soon be blooming! 
Hopefully, most of the rain did some good on your property, rather than just runoff. One way to keep water on your lawn and help you have a stronger, healthier yard, is aeration. I know I’ve spoken about aeration before, but will do it again! It’s just so good for the soil!
Lawn aeration is a great way to help your lawn stay viable and healthy, it encourages deep root growth of the grass by providing space for the roots to grow, which helps with drought tolerance. With more space, the water that is applied to the lawn (either rain or sprinklers) will now go down further into the soil, rather than running off. I highly encourage everyone to have their lawn aerated annually to promote the root growth, help erase some of the compaction issues that some of our lawns face (I know I walk on the same trail in my backyard all the time, which only adds to compaction), and help with some thatch issues. This all boils down to the fact that you won’t have to water as much, which is a huge benefit too…we ARE still in a drought.
The picture to the right shows the soil cores that are removed from a lawn during the aeration process.
To make getting your lawn aerated a little more lucrative, the Water Conservation Program is introducing a new rebate program for a limited time this spring/summer–a lawn aeration rebate! The rebate is up to $50 rebated back to you, after you have your lawn aerated. You can rent a machine and do it yourself (but they are pretty heavy!) or hire someone or a lawn company to do it for you. Simply fill out the application and submit it along with a copy of the paid invoice for the service.
The rebate is only a pilot, to see how much interest there is in it, so no applications will be accepted after August 30, 2015.
