If you’re interested in getting your garden looking great, then you may already have heard of a lawn scarifier. But what actually is it and is scarifying your lawn worth the effort?
According to the Cambridge dictionary, to scarify means “to use a scarifier to break up and remove unwanted grass or plants that are covering the surface of a lawn”. In other words, if you have a very mossy or thatch-covered lawn, scarifying is a great way to give it a refresh by breaking up the moss and letting light and air reach the grass.
There are several ways to scarify, and the option you choose may well depend on how big your lawn is. The simplest way is to use a spring-tined rake, and just rake the moss or thatch out, but this can be quite an intense workout and it may take a while if you have a particularly large garden!
If you want an easier life though, there are mechanical options that do the trick – the Stihl petrol RL 540 scarifier is designed with large gardens in mind as it has sturdy, fixed blades that help you to break up any moss or thatch quickly and easily.
If you have a smaller garden, then you could take a look at the Stihl RLA 240 battery-powered scarifier. This model is part of the Stihl AK System of tools that all use the same batteries. It also comes with interchangeable scarifier and dethatcher attachments as standard, so it’s easy to remove built-up thatch and moss from your lawn quickly and quietly!
A word of warning – your garden won’t be looking its best immediately after scarifying! But don’t panic, this won’t last, and your grass will thank you for the effort you’ve made once it has had some time to recover. You can go over the lawn with a lawnmower (make sure the setting isn’t too low) afterwards to pick up any dead grass or moss, and then you may want to reseed it, especially if the scarifying has revealed sparse patches.
Both the Stihl RL 540 petrol scarifier and the Stihl RLA 240 battery scarifier are in stock and available in store or via our online store.