This is a picture of an Elite KBG lawn along side the standard contractor grade KBG lawns. The picture was taken April 11. It appears that the lawn has come out of dormancy earlier than the rest but the owner, MorpheusPA, says it was only dormant for a few weeks in the winter. This lawn gets a Logan Labs test quite often to tune up the micro nutrients in the soil. This lawn also received very heavy doses of Milorganite and soybean meal on a weekly basis for the previous growing season (or was it two growing seasons). In any case you can clearly see the difference it makes having the right grass and giving it intense care. This year Morph is backing way off on the intensity of fertilizing. MorpheusPA is a member here but is much more active on another Internet lawn forum. That was your motivational image. You can get the same results, I believe. You have to want them enough to do some extra work. If you decide to renovate, please do not topdress with anything permanent like topsoil or sand UNLESS you have a poor drainage situation. You probably do not. The habit of topdressing a homeowner lawn is a leading cause of me coming out to your home and taking pictures which will ultimately use to mock you. For example, here's one now... This owner has been topdressing "1/4 inch every year" and he's a very old guy. Rather than having a lawn which is mostly level with the surrounding concrete, he's had to build a barrier around the edges to contain the excess topsoil. While it is good to have a little bit of a crown in the middle of the yard, this is ridiculous! I should mention that I'm only talking about the mound in the hell strip. The original homes were built up on those pads to keep them out of flood waters which have since been contained with a local dam. But anyway don't topdress. It is not needed. If you choose to use compost, the way to test it for doneness is to smell it. It should smell very fresh like a forest floor after a spring rain. It should also not have any recognizable chunks in it. Good compost is screened down to 1/4 inch. The best is double screened. If you want to get started now (not a bad idea), you can apply the Milorganite and/or rabbit chow any time without interfering with the TruGreen apps. They all work independently of each other. You might find soybean meal to be less expensive than Rabbit Chow. By the way you should be mowing about 3 inches high - no lower. In the deep heat you can let it go to 4.

Don't like Wal-Mart, huh? That's a very good comment. Tell you what. I'll go back and price parts at a couple other places and make a table of the various prices. In the mean time, I'll tell you why that website seems to plug Wal-Mart. Because everyone has access to Wal-Mart. If you want to design something that everyone could make, then you have to specify parts that are available to everyone. If we specified a certain brand of aquarium pump that was only available at Fish-O-Rama, well, who lives near one of those? Picking Wal-Mart was a very conscious decision. Certainly you can you go elsewhere to get parts if you don't like Wal-Mart. The prices will be different, but that's why you go elsewhere. I got my pump at Petsmart and bucket and tubing at Lowe's.

ok, hope this will answer your actual question -- I bought the aerator -- Wingdigger Aerator- here http://www.cboinc.com/cvwma/cvwma_forsale.htm It has only one set of "wings" and works fine. I have bins made out of wood pallets and at 5ft 2in I cannot reach down with a fork to turn the pile. So the aerator is a big help. I also used it with my plastic trash bin before I got the pallets set up. There is also a two-wings variety -- from Gareners supply company -http://www.gardeners.com/Compost%20Aerator/20708,33-367,default,cp.html but I never used it or heard of any opinions. Hope this helps.

I'm a little confused. Is a lawn aerator the same as a compost aerator? My neighbors and I went together last Fall and rented a lawn aerating machine. For my compost pile, oddly enough, I sorta enjoy turning it with a pitchfork (my chickens like it when I turn it, too).