Since the winter months, my lawn has been overrun by moss and weeds; there is essentially no regular grass left. After reading about gardening expert Monty Don’s advice to revive lawns through scarification and aeration, I decided to give it a go. Scarifying is a process that removes excess thatch and moss from the grass base to allow for better growth. This is then followed up by aerating, which involves puncturing the soil to allow better circulation of air and water down to the roots.
While Monty Don noted that a garden rake and fork can be used to scarify and aerate, my lawn is on the larger side and is invaded badly with moss, so it would take quite a bit of effort and time to get the job done. Instead, I decided to test out an electric scarifier that also doubles as an aerator. The product in question is the two-in-one VonHaus Scarifier and Aerator 2000W. With this garden gadget, I was able to remove moss from my lawn and prep it for overseeding in just under three hours.
Retailing for £179.99, the VonHaus Scarifier and Aerator 2000W is designed to lift moss, clear thatch, and remove the build-up that mowing can’t reach.
Scarifying a lawn is hard work for any machine, so it needs to be tough, well-built and designed to take the hard work away.
The major selling point of this gardening tool is that it makes scarifying and aerating a whole lot easier than using a garden rake and fork to do the job, especially given how heavily moss-infested my lawn was.
I found that this model offered plenty of power. It easily removed very mossy, thatched lawns and dead grass from the surface of my lawn that hadn’t been touched for a long time.
If you would rather opt for a lower-powered version that is also cheaper, then there is also the 1800W version of the VonHaus 2-in-1 Lawn Scarifier.
VonHaus states that the product requires simple and minimal assembly, and I would definitely agree. The entire assembly process took about five minutes.
The scarifier comes with two interchangeable rollers: one with metal tines for scarifying and another with blades for aerating. Both feel strong and sturdy.
It also comes with a collection bag that can hold up to 55 litres in volume. However, it fills quickly, and I found that it stops collecting before it is full. I’d say it fills to about 40 litres before you need to empty it.
With the scarifying roller attached, it was time to test out the gardening tool. At this point, I ran into a slight issue. The power cable was too short, but it was easily resolved with my extension cable.
As I’d never scarified my lawn before, and because I’d never used a scarifying machine, I decided that caution was advisable. So, I ran my scarifier on the highest setting.
However, that didn’t work. It hardly lifted anything, so I gradually reduced the height of the scarifying blades to see the effects of each.
Eventually, I bit the bullet and went for the lowest setting — with a lawn this bad, I needed some fairly drastic action.
It’s worth noting that I won’t need to use the blades so low for future scarification come autumn, as I’ll have tackled the main moss problem. But this time, it was a bit of an emergency.
Scarifying is a little scary as you run the machine over your lawn and discover a trail of destruction in its wake. I was a little surprised to find that the collector box was full by the end of the first line to the top of the garden.
There were a lot of ridges in the lawn at this point caused by the blades of the scarifier, but after this first run, there was still loads of moss underneath.
So, I ran my scarifier up and down the entire lawn, from top to bottom. Then, I ran the scarifier diagonally across from the bottom left of the lawn to the top right. And then diagonally from the bottom right to the top left.
My advice here is to keep your nerve, as your lawn will probably look horrifyingly bare after scarifying and aerating.
Once I was done scarifying, it was time to aerate. A quick changeover of the rollers and the machine was good to go. It worked in a very similar way to the scarifier, except it was more intense.
While I wasn’t the biggest fan of how it aerates the lawn, I have nothing but praise for its scarifying function.
Its design features and depth settings make it versatile enough for a variety of different lawn types, and it’s simple enough to be used by someone who doesn’t have much scarifying experience.
Alternatively, there are other two-in-one scarifiers and aerators on the market. You can pick up the Hyundai Electric Lawn Scarifier Aerator Lawn Rake 1800W for the cheaper price of £129.99.
For something a little more budget-friendly, albeit far less powerful, the Hawksmoor 1200W Electric Lawnmower retails for £49.98 from ToolStation.
After aerating, the next step in reviving my lawn will be to overseed before adding a layer of top dressing.
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