Dethatching comes in many names in the lawn care industry: Dethatching, thatching, power raking.  They all mean the same thing when referring to your lawn.  Though, technically, thatching does refer to actually putting thatch down and not removing it.  For the sake of argument, we are talking about removing the thatch layer from your landscape.

In short, no, you do not always need to dethatch.  In our region of Vancouver, WA, we get a lot of moss in the lawns.  Dethatching can help remove this.  Keep in mind that thatch is typically a symptom to another problem.  It could be you have a compacted soil, so the water isn't able to drain off of the surface, thereby giving ground to a moss buildup.  In which case you will want to aerate the lawn.  Alternatively, you may have a pH imbalance.   You can aid the pH by applying lime.

If you do decide you need to dethatch your lawn, I wouldn't recommend going over the lawn more that two times.  The tines of the power rake can tear into the ground, not only ripping out moss and thatch, but also pulling out healthy grasses.  It puts a lot of stress on the lawn, so going over it again and again will leave you will a barren strip that was once green.

If you are going for gold, you still have a lot of work ahead of you after dethatching.  You will want to make sure your watering schedule is on point, you have quality grass seed, and the proper fertilizer.  After dethatching you may consider core aerating your lawn as well.  Do you need to top-dress the lawn with soil?  Because dethaching is usually fixing a symptom, you want to continue the work to ensure a healthy and beautiful lawn.

There are several different styles of aeration on the market today to help with your yard care.  I will cover the most common ones here, and explain the benefits of aeration.  To answer the question of whether you need to aerate your lawn, the short answer is yes. 

The most common methods to aeration your lawn are:

• Core Aeration
• Spike Aeration
• Slice Aeration

While aeration can be done yourself, you can also call on the professionals.  Once you decide if you will DIY it, or leave it in someone else's hands, it is important to explain why aeration is beneficial.

Lawns will naturally compact over time.  This denser soil makes it more difficult for the grass roots to push through and establish.  The roots are the foundation of your plant.  Poor, unhealthy, roots will result in a unhealthy grass. 

Proper aeration will, literally, open up the ground.  Allowing the roots to breathe and grow.  This newly opened soil (in the form of small holes), will also allow water to penetrate deeper into the soil.  If the water is deeper, the roots of the grass will naturally grow deeper to find this water.  What you end up with is longer, stronger, roots that can better withstand stress, drought, and disease.

If you have a clay soil, we need to do some additional steps, which we will cover in another article.

Core Aeration for your lawn care regiment is a great way to keep your lawn in shape.  Of the three aeration techniques, this is the best one to choose.  Core aeration pulls what is called "plugs" from the soil and as the machine rolls along it drops these  plugs.  Once you are done you will have thousands of little dirt plugs (about the size of someones finger) all over the lawn.  One of our clients told us it looked like a thousand chihuahua's visited his lawn!

You can follow up your aeration with some fresh new grass seed and your lawn will look better and better. 

As this technique of aeration suggests, spike aeration large spikes (about the width of a pencil) are driven into the ground.  You can find these "machines" at a box store.  Just look for the shoes with spikes on the bottom of them.  Alternatively, they do have large rollers that can be towed behind a tractor or riding mower. This technique will actually compact your soil even further as the spikes are simply pushing the soil out of the way.

In similar fashion to the spike aeration method, a slice aerator is simply not as good as a core aerator. This machine will use large discs, similar to a saw blade, to cut into the ground.   You will see this slice aerator drug behind a tractor or riding mower as well.  Typically weighed down with bricks to keep the blades in contact with the soil.

Whether you decided to rent the core aeration machine to do it yourself, or you have called on a professional, when to core aerate is important.  It is recommended to aerate in the spring and fall.  You want the ground warm and moist.  Not so wet that the machine is going to till up the ground, and not to dry that you won't get any penetration.   Also, if the temperature is very hot, you will be opening up the ground to this.  You don't want to desiccate the roots of the lawn by opening the ground to some dry, hot, air.

Not quite.  There is a lot more to lawn care than just sitting back and watching the grass grow.  Proper watering, fertilization, over-seeding...they all play a part in having a lawn that is the envy of your neighbors.

Proper winter lawn care can help to ensure your lawn comes back in the spring.  If you managed to plan ahead in the fall with a lawn aeration and an over-seeding, you are a step ahead of your neighbors.  On the other hand, if you skipped the lawn aeration, there is still time to ensure a rich and beautiful lawn come spring.

We liken winter lawn care to healthy diet and exercise.  You can't expect to cancel on leg day and still maintain those results...can you?  In a sense, a lawn needs to be taken care of even in the winter.  It is, after all, a plant. 

As a full-service landscape maintenance company, we would advise you to not mulch the leaves into your lawn.  Since we service all areas of Clark County, WA, we see all kinds of leaves left piled up in the grass.  Sure, leaf compost is fantastic, but mowing over thick, wet, leaves is not leaf compost.  It's going to smoother your lawn, and leave it worse than you left it.  Rake them off, blow them off, anything, but don't leave the those piles of leaves on the lawn and hope they just blow away.

A lawn care regiment must include regular fertilization.  This means a winter fertilization as well  Whether you find your fertilizer from a box store, or you have a local landscape supplier, you will want to find the proper bag for your season.  Those number on the bag are important, so ask someone if you are unsure as to which type you need. 

Don't forget the lime!  No, not the kind you put in the coconut, the kind made from limestone.   Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have to battle against an acidic climate.   Lime helps to maintain a balanced pH by raising the scale.  In addition to our pine trees and rain, the nitrogen in our fertilizers lower the pH of the lawn.  This is where lime helps to raise that number.  You can put lime down by the bag, just follow the directions and it will help get those numbers up!

Remember, just like tools. not all fertilizers are the same, or even made as well as the next.  We believe in quality over quantity.  On that note, not all fertilizers last the same amount of time either.  You may need to reapply fertilizers 6-8 weeks after.  

In our region, the grass will keep growing (if it's been properly taken care of) in the winter.  Albeit not as not as much as the rest of the year.  When you lawn is starting to look shaggy, you will still want to mow it.  Make sure you have that blade shape!  If you are unsure on how to sharpen the blade yourself, you can take it to any number of hardware stores to get it sharpened.  We swap out for newly sharpened blades on our equipment every morning.  As a homeowner, you could probably get away with just 2-3 sharpening every year.  If you are diligent, and make sure you aren't mowing sticks, rocks, and pine cones, you blade will stay sharper longer. 

How's that saying go?  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?  If you prevent the crane-fly from ruining your lawn, it is much easier than trying to fix the damage.  Crane-fly larvae, called leatherjackets, will eat through the roots of your grass.  With the proper care, you can help prevent this damage.  Late winter, or early spring, when the ground is starting to warm up, is what you want to consider treating for these pets.