Loosening the soil, improving the supply of oxygen, and creating good drainage creates a good environment for new grass seed, whilst benefitting any existing lawn.

There are instructions included, but they’re not overly clear, and a lot of patience is needed to screw all of the pieces together. Some customers have cited a total construction time of between 40 minutes and two hours.They are simple, cheap and work really well if you get a decent pair and the only thing that lets them down is that they require you to walk around the garden for quite a long time and it can be quite tiring – from my perspective as I mention above it’s a great opportunity for exercise and clearing a chore. I like the look of the ABREOME Lawn Aerator Shoes. Fork aerators will hollow tines Spiked aerator shoes require a bit of getting used to, and some leg muscle as well, to pull the spikes out of the ground. But they can be a good way to cover small areas. You just need to be careful not to wear the shoes on any hard surfaces, as the spikes can bend and break. These shoe aerators won’t create as deep a hole as other types. I saw my own neighbour damage his lawn by walking over it several times with lawn shoes (with spikes), he ended up with a more compacted lawn, and it did nothing to improve aeration or drainage. If you’re coring using a hollow tine aerator, which is one of the more invasive ways to get the job done, you should be sure that the patch will have enough time to recover from the process. Low cost and easy to operate, roller spike aerators are quite popular products, but there are some common issues. Firstly, some of the cheaper models are not all that well put together and may be a bit on the flimsy side. On top of that, they are sometimes too lightweight and so the pines hardly penetrate the ground without some alteration to the design to make them heavier, or manually pushing down on the handle. They are all pretty similar in design: Roller spike aerator – they are all pretty similar in design

If you’re struggling to establish a lawn in a shaded garden, my in-depth guide to growing grass in shade is an excellent read where I reveal practical solutions that actually work, such as moss control, advice on iron sulphate and other products such as bacteria that eats lawn moss, etc.

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The Garden Spike Roller works by perforating the ground with its steel spikes, creating small holes in the ground. This allows air, water and nutrients to penetrate the grassroots which help the roots to grow deeply and produce a lush garden lawn. Assembly takes just 15 minutes and it comes with a 28 L grass bag as well as a generous 10 m cable. The power cable is bright orange which means it is visible in the grass as well.

By appearance, the Kingfisher RC401 resembles a pitchfork. However, there are certain features that make it different. First things first, unlike regular pitchforks, the tines on this tool are hollow inside and have pointed tips, which allows you to push them deeper into the ground for better aeration. And secondly, it has a sturdy horizontal crossbar above the spikes where you can rest your foot to push the fork, making the whole process much more convenient. To help make your decision little easier, we have chosen a selection of different aerator types that are currently among the most popular in the UK and tested and reviewed them for you. Here’s what I came up with from a combination of years of experience and some personal testing: What does aerating a lawn do? It should go without saying that the following tools, even though they are sharp, won’t penetrate hard lawns, but then little will! In these cases you’ll need to water first or wait for rain. Lawn Aerator Sandals or Shoes If you’ve got a small area of lawn that needs attention, a hand tool like the Yard Butler ID-6C Manual Lawn Coring Aerator is worth considering.

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The only downside to this aerator is that the T-handle is a little narrow so users with larger hands may find it uncomfortable. There are no grips on the handles either, so it doesn’t quite offer the same comfort as padded garden tools. The soil in your garden over time may become compacted through children or pets running around on the lawn, or from general garden use. Compacted soil has a hard time circulating itself, which over time will starve the roots from the essentials required for healthy growth. Manual Rolling Drum Aerators – these are time and labour saving, as you simply walk across the lawn pushing the roller In this case, air circulation means allowing stale carbon dioxide to leave the soil to make room for fresh oxygen to take its place.

Finally, there are spiked aerator shoes. These are definitely the best option for those who are looking to up their step count! They’re worn on your feet and will aerate your lawn as you walk around. They could also be worn whilst doing other jobs, like hanging out the washing. If you’re sure you don’t have moss/thatch problem strangling your lawn (and that’s easy to know – you’ll be able to see it) then perhaps the soil is too dry, or the roots of your lawn are not getting the water, air, and nutrients that they need. If this is the case, you need an aerator of some kind. In some cases, an underlying moss or weed problem in fact stems from compacted soil that strangles grass growth so you’re probably going to progress to this stage if you don’t use an aerator soon. An aerator pokes holes into your lawn and soil allowing your roots to get exactly what they need to thrive – some hollow tine aerators go one step further removing small sections of soil to allow nutrient and water to penetrate roots – the grass then spreads to these areas with a larger and healthier root system but normally, solid spikes shoes can fix most homeowners problems in my experience. If you want an easier version of that then you’ll be looking at an electric aerator. And for more information to help you choose what’s right for you, I would probably look at what a lawn aerator does. There are 13 metal spikes on each shoe, approximately 5 cm long, which penetrate into all types of soil for efficient aerating. These spikes are also replaceable, just in case any get lost.Plug aerators have hollow tines and are usually pushed into the ground using your feet. The hollow tines remove plugs of earth as opposed to just penetrating the soil. These are more effort to use, although they have the benefit of actively removing the soil as opposed to just pushing it to the side.