Today I’m going to discuss another product we’re testing out at home, these lawn aerating sandals.

This product should interest anyone who has ever used those heavy-duty lawn aerating tools that you push down on with your foot. Those things work great (and that’s why we carry them as well), because they have a long, three inch spike, but they can be hard to haul around, especially if you have a large area to aerate.

The aerator shoes are a great way to get the benefits of lawn aeration while minimizing the strain on your body. They have twenty 1-½ inch spikes, which is pretty impressive.

They fit neatly on most shoe sizes and use your own body weight to push the aerator spikes into the ground. I should mention my parents have also tested out these shoes. I prompted my Mom to use them after last years aerating experience left her arms numb for a week. My Dad also wanted to try them out.

My Mom used them and thought they were excellent. She’s an older gardener so I feel confident recommending the shoes to elderly gardeners or anyone who has trouble hauling around heavy tools because of back strain, etc.

So, just to let you know, I wear a size 10 Men’s, my Mom has a size 6 women’s, and my Dad uses about a 12 ½. We found that the size 12 ½ was actually pushing the limits for the sandals. My Dad could still use them, but with a bit more effort. You can still move the straps around to hug the front of your shoe, even if your toes stick out a bit. For myself and my Mom, they worked great as far as fitting properly.

We have some pretty compacted clay soils in our yard, so when I tested them out, it required a bit of effort to pull the sandals out of the ground. Nothing serious, but if you’re expecting the sandals to be no effort at all, you should know that you will be getting a little exercise when you use them.

My Mom found the shoes to be very easy to use. She weighs about 100 pounds or so, whereas my Dad and I weigh a lot more. Ok, weight is a sensitive issue, so we won’t go into that any more. Needless to say, the three of us found aerating the lawn to be quite easy with the sandals.

My only complaint is that with our rather tough soils, my shoes seem to move around in the sandals and loosen the straps. I had to stop periodically and tighten them. This didn’t seem to be an issue for my Mom.

The spikes on the aerating shoes also loosen a bit with use. We aerated a large back yard and two small areas of turf in the front, and after that we tightened the spikes because they were jiggling around a little. They are easy to tighten so no big deal. Just something to be aware of.

I wanted to mention that these aerating shoes are a great way to keep your lawn healthy during the year. However, I did some research on lawn aeration and I read that it’s a good idea to get one of those machines that pull soil plugs out of your lawn and use that periodically. This is especially true if you have clay soils.

Just thought I’d mention that because while these shoes work great, deep lawn aeration is an excellent thing that you can do for your lawn.

My overall summary is that the lawn aerator sandals are a handy gadget that makes the occasionally difficult chore of lawn aeration much easier. If you are an elderly gardener or have a larger lawn, they will definitely help. If you wear a size 13 Men’s shoe, be aware that they may not fit as comfortably for you. You should still be able to use them, but it may be more challenging.

Just to let you know, we shot a video of this product while using it and we should have it up on the website soon.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Products We're Using. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.