So you seek pain? Your lawn may be looking sad, brown, or just isn’t growing much. If you look into the grass and see a lot of dead grass or debris, it’s time to look into dethatching your grass. I had been thinking about getting a detaching machine, and amazon must have read my mind because I got an ad for one and bought it. I went with the GreenWorks for $90, and honestly, it is the best for homeowners. There are options to rent a heavy-duty one from a big box store, but people complain that it can damage sprinkle heads, it’s clunky, and costs about the same as the unit I bought just to rent.
Steps for dethatching your lawn
- Mow your lawn – most people recommend about 2″ tall. Doing this helps the machine not have to fight against tall grass.
- Adjust your dethatcher – this is trial and error until you find the setting that removes the most debris without pulling up healthy roots.
- Start making passes – l went through and want in a line by line, stopping every few steps from clearing out the machine.
- Clean it up – it may take a long time, so be ready. Use a blower or a rake to put it in mounds to pick up the dead grass.
- Repeat – continue until you have gotten all of the debris out or you’ve given up.
I did two passes and honestly could have done more. I gave up since it took me a couple of hours for each pass. I ended up pulling out over 12 bags of debris from my front lawn. This fall, I’ll go through and do a few more passes.
It’s been four weeks now, and my grass is healthy and thriving. Now I need to fertilize it in a couple of days to really make it pop.
