The Budget-Friendly Lawn Fix That's Hiding In Your Closet
If your yard is looking a bit worse for the wear, you may need to aerate it. When soil is too compact, it can prevent your grass from getting necessary nutrients like air and water. This can leave your grass looking brown or dull when it is hot and dry outside. Your yard may also collect puddles when it rains instead of absorbing the water. Compacted soil is especially common in areas where you or your pets walk, play, or otherwise spend time on the lawn. To bring a lawn back to life, you may need to aerate the ground. This process creates holes in the lawn that break up the compaction and allow nutrients to reach the roots. While this often involves renting an aeration device of some kind, there is an easy and budget-friendly solution that you may already have in your closet — high heels.
By putting on a pair of high-heeled stilettos, you can reap the benefits of spike aeration by simply walking around your yard. The stiletto heels are pointy and narrow enough to sink into the grass and long enough to reach the right depth. It is recommended that aeration holes, both from spike aeration and core aeration, achieve a depth of about 2 to 3 inches. High heels are usually about 3 to 4 inches tall, making them the perfect height to poke holes in your lawn.
Does this hack work?
So just how effective is this hack? If you have ever had to walk over grass while wearing stilettos, you know that the heels can stick into the ground and puncture holes. In fact, it is like spike aeration shoes, a common and affordable product used for spike aerating lawns. These shoes are typically flat with a number of long spikes on the bottom. Users put the shoes on and walk around the yard, just as you would with heels. However, wearing spiked shoes is not highly effective for aeration, and it can be quite tiring. It is best for small areas of grass with only minor compaction. These limitations apply to high heels as well. Plus, with just one spike per foot, you would only be able to cover a small area.
If you think your soil's compaction is more than a mild case, spike aeration of any kind is unlikely to be a good solution and could result in one of the downsides to lawn aeration that you should know about. While it can help mild cases in the short term, spike aeration creates holes by pushing soil down and to the sides, creating more compaction. Core aeration, on the other hand, removes the soil from the holes, meaning it gives the grass space without squeezing more soil together.
How to spike aerate your lawn using high heels
While spike aeration is not ideal for every situation, a small area with mild compaction could benefit from aeration created by the high heel hack. If you decide that the budget-friendly stiletto option is a good choice for your yard, you should know the best time to aerate your lawn. You want to aerate during the growing season. The day before you plan to aerate, mow the lawn to a short height and water the area to soften the soil. Then, choose your shoes. Look for stiletto heels with a height of 2 to 4 inches that you do not mind getting dirty. If you are not sure how deep the hole will be, create one using the heel. Then measure the depth. Once you are ready, put on the shoes and walk over the compacted area, allowing the heels to sink deep into the ground. Ideally, the holes will be evenly spaced and about 2 to 3 inches apart, so you will need to make a few passes over a small area.
Once you finish, water and fertilize the area. Then, you can go inside and wash the dirt off your shoes. High heels may not be the most efficient method for aerating a lawn, but if you avoid the mistakes everyone makes when aerating their lawn and are working with a small area of minor compaction, they can be an effective way to help your lawn.