Our 2 Challenges from Aerating the Lawn!

  Have you ever aerated your lawn? If you have and you have dogs, you know that it brings muddy challenges, but that's not the ONLY challenge.

WHY AERATE YOUR LAWN? - Aeration involves perforating the soil with small holes to allow air, water and nutrients to penetrate the grass roots. This helps the roots grow deeply and produce a stronger, more vigorous lawn. The main reason for aerating is to alleviate soil compaction.

It's aerated dirt. Really.

THE CHALLENGES -The there are 2 main challenges to daily life that I've experienced after having someone aerate the lawn, specifically the back yard where we let the dogs out.

1) A MUDDY MESS -  the morning dew makes for a very MUDDY mess from paws that come back inside. Why? Because the aeration brings up dirt and puts it on top of the grass.  So, we've had to set towels on the floor of the sun porch and have another towel handy to clean paws. Of course, trying to clean 4 sets of paws at once is a challenge, and someone always sneaks past.
 2) PICKING UP THE BACK YARD - When the yard is aerated, the "aerator" has little pipe-like things that pick up a tubular shaped piece of dirt about 2" long and 3/4" in diameter... Basically they look like Dachshund poop!  

It's aerated dirt. Really.

 - and of course, being color-blind, I (Rob) have a really hard time telling the difference. (One way around it is to follow our Dachshund Franklin, who can sniff out #2 from a mile away). Anyway, it makes for a challenge and an extended time to "poo hunt." 
   And yes, there have been "mis-steps" where I thought I was stepping on aerated dirt! 

Who has muddy paws?