Aerate and fertilize a lawn

Once a year, and the lawn breathes again. Fall for fescue, late spring for Bermuda.

How much lawn?

square feet

This fits in a car

About 16 lb of materials. Comfortably inside what a car carries (200 lb), so any shopper can take it. ⚠️ 1 item on the list has no weight on file, so the real load is a little heavier than this.

Before you start

A rented core aerator weighs 200 lb or more, so load it with two people and a ramp. Flag sprinkler heads and call 811 if you are not sure where shallow lines run.

What to buy — untick anything you have

Lawn

1 bag of lawn fertilizerCheck the bag says how many square feet it feeds. Fescue lawns want a fall blend; Bermuda wants a summer one.

Hardware

1 pack of marking flags (25 per pack)

Tools — already ticked off, since most people have them

Tools

1 Core aerator
1 Broadcast spreader· most people have this
1 Garden hose and sprinkler· most people have this

It lands in the shopping form, where you can edit anything and say what you think each thing costs. Nothing is ordered until you send it.

How it goes · about a morning · beginner

Water the lawn well the day before. The tines only pull clean cores out of moist ground.
Flag every sprinkler head, valve box and shallow cable run so the aerator goes around them.
Run the aerator over the whole lawn in rows, then again across the first pass on the compacted spots.
Leave the cores on the grass. They break down in a week or two.
Spread the fertilizer at the rate on the bag, half in one direction and half across it.
Water it in lightly. The county extension office will test a soil sample if you want to know exactly what it needs.

Something else

Build a raised garden bed Mulch a flower bed Paint a room Put up garage shelving Fix a patchy lawn Build a fire pit Mount a TV on the wall Cookout for a crowd

Feeding people instead? The recipe book works the same way — pick a meal, say how many, every ingredient lands on the list.