Aerate Lawn While You Mow

Aerate Lawn While You Mow FARM HOME Lawn Mowers (31h,38) 31-5-30 Aeration usually means renting a heavy, bulky machine that leaves dirt cores all over the lawn. Gail Bowman and her husband Tim came up with the Mow-Aerator as a better alternative. "We were looking at the poor lawn on our hard Georgia clay and thought there had to be a way to eliminate the compaction," recalls Bowman. "Tim put nails through a piece of rubber belting and attached it to the wheels on our garden tractor. It worked great." The Bowmans found an engineering research company, got a confidentiality agreement and sent them the nail-studded belt. What they got back was a prototype they could take to a manufacturer. By next spring, it will be on hardware stores around the country based on interest already expressed. "It's an 8-in. wide, 15-bracket track with 1 1/2-in. spikes that slice into the soil," explains Bowman. "The powder-coated, cold-rolled steel will fit an 18 by 8 or 20 by 8 garden tractor tire. Suggested retail price will be $149." The Mow-Aerator will eventually also be available for 20 by 9 1/2 and 20 by 10 tires. A Mini Mow-Aerator with the same straight edge knives is also being introduced for use on push mowers. Bowman expects it to be priced under $40. With both designs, the key is proper mowing technique. "When you mow, you should mow it a different way each time, north-south, east-west and on the diagonal," stresses Bowman. "If you keep the aerator on for at least two mowing trips you will aerate the entire yard." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, GAILCO Innovations, 431 Greenridge Rd., Cartersville, Ga. 30120 (ph 770 975-6516; fax 770 975-3991; gbowman@gailcoinnovations.com; www.gailcoinnovations.com).

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