When Should You Aerate Your Lawn in Colorado?

If you live in Aurora or Centennial, your lawn is sitting on Colorado clay. It compacts over time, especially with foot traffic, mowing, and our freeze-thaw cycles. Core aeration is the single best thing you can do to keep your lawn healthy long-term.

The Best Time to Aerate in Colorado

The best time to aerate along the Front Range is early fall, specifically late August through mid-September. The soil is still warm enough for grass roots to recover quickly, and the cooler air temperatures reduce stress on your lawn.

Spring aeration works too, but there's a catch:

• If you aerate too early (before mid-April), the soil is still cold and wet
• Aerate too late (after mid-May) and you're stressing your lawn right before summer heat hits
• Fall timing gives your lawn the best chance to recover and thicken up

Single Pass vs Double Pass Aeration

Double pass aeration is worth it if your lawn has never been aerated, if you have heavy clay, or if water tends to pool on the surface instead of soaking in. You could rent an aerator from Home Depot for $100 plus your whole Saturday, or hire a local crew like us for around the same price and we handle everything.

Pro tip: leave the plugs on your lawn. They break down in 2 to 3 weeks and return nutrients to the soil. Raking them up defeats the purpose.

Pairing Aeration with Overseeding

If you're planning to overseed, aerate first. The holes give seed direct contact with soil, which dramatically improves germination rates. At No Mow Worries, we see this all the time with Aurora lawns - clients who combine aeration with overseeding see way better results than trying to overseed without it.