DIY vs Pro Lawn Care: Considering Lawn Services in Memphis, TN and North MS

Your lawn is a pretty important part of your overall outdoor appearance in Memphis, TN and Northern MS. It welcomes you outside with its thick, green expanse. A great lawn can even become the neighborhood gold standard.

In that same vein, a weedy, brown, run down, spotty lawn can bring the neighborhood down.

You know you want to keep your lawn looking healthy, but there are some services necessary to get your lawn to look like the one you’d prefer: the gold standard. This appearance doesn’t happen by chance.

You might not know all of the things you need to do to get that desirable lawn you crave. In fact, you might even be thinking you could just stop at the local home improvement store and purchase a couple of DIY lawn care products – maybe a fertilizer and possibly a weed control product – and you’ll be good to go.

Stop right there. While you may not know exactly what your lawn needs, you certainly don’t want to see your lawn become full of diseases or weeds that could have been avoided. You just want to feel certain you’re doing the right thing and making the right choices for your lawn.

As you ponder what your grass needs, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of DIY lawn care vs. professional lawn care in Memphis, TN and Northern MS.

A Bit About Lawn Fertilizer

First, you might be asking yourself, “Why does my lawn need fertilizer?” You might even think your grass should be able to get its own nutrients naturally.

Like any other plant, your grass needs sunlight, water, and nutrients to grow. Lawns do filter nutrients out of the soil via the sun and water that comes in. But this process can leave your lawn nutrient-deficient.

What’s more is that grass is usually planted in landscapes that have been churned up from home building. This means the soil has been completely depleted of nutrients. And lawns that don’t receive regular nutrients, unfortunately, become less resistant to weed and disease infestations.

This is why your grass could use regular fertilizer applications that are done properly using the right nutrients, whether they happen through DIY lawn care vs. professional lawn care.

DIY Lawn Care Pros & Cons

Now that you have a better understanding of lawn care fertilization, you might think you can just pick up a bag of fertilizer from a home improvement store shelf and get to work.

But there’s more you need to know before you start and help you realize whether or not DIY lawn care is worth it. Here are some DIY lawn care pros and cons.

DIY Lawn Care Pro: Learn a New Skill

Educating yourself on the proper steps necessary for lawn care and fertilization certainly takes up some of your time and energy.

Fertilizers include nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, and the amounts of each are listed on the bag’s label. There are different fertilizers with different mixes of each. A soil test can give you insight into which mix might be best for your lawn.

When it comes time to apply a granular fertilizer, you have to use a lawn care spreader when you’re performing DIY lawn care vs. professional. And to deliver the right amount of granular fertilizer across your lawn, you need to calibrate the spreader before every application and have a consistent, steady walking pace. These proper application steps ensure you don’t overapply products or apply them unevenly. Remember, with fertilizer, more is never better.

If you want to control weeds on your lawn, then you need to make another application, and this one will vary whether it’s granular or liquid. To take care of weeds in your grass, you have to identify the weeds you’re fighting and then choose the right products to eliminate them.

You must apply weed control products at the right time of year to ensure control, and this will change depending on the weed you want to eliminate. Some weeds are best battled pre-emergently – or before they emerge from the ground – while others are best controlled post-emergently or when you can already see them in the lawn.

Learning all of these nuances can present DIY lawn care problems. In fact, it takes lawn care technicians years to master the skills and obtain the necessary licensing and certifications. Comprehending Memphis and Mississippi state laws when it comes to proper lawn care applications is also important, so you aren’t breaking any laws.

The perk is that learning a new skill can make you feel pretty good, especially after you've done a great job and your lawn looks good.

DIY Lawn Care Pro: Spend Time Outside

Performing proper DIY lawn care can certainly get you outside, enjoying the sunshine and the fresh, sweet air.

As you walk across your lawn, inspecting it for weeds, bare spots, and other blemishes, you get in a great outdoor warmup. Then, as you calibrate your spreader and apply lawn care products, you get a pretty good outside workout.

Since you’ll be doing this work in summer, you may be tempted to wear a t-shirt and shorts, but it’s much more appropriate to wear long sleeves, long pants, and gloves when you’re doing your DIY lawn care vs. professional.

DIY Lawn Care Con: Lack of Savings

The question concerning whether or not DIY lawn care is less expensive than professional lawn care comes up quite a bit. Many people choose to perform lawn care services themselves because they think it will save them some money.

Unfortunately, the costs do add up. First, you have to purchase the proper equipment and products to do the work. Then you have to be able to store them correctly so you don’t waste products that you just paid good money for and so your equipment stays in proper working order. Then if you have to reapply products that you didn’t put down correctly the first time, you will have to spend more money on fresh products. You also have to spend money maintaining your equipment to ensure it operates smoothly each time.

Finally, your time is something you shouldn’t take for granted since it’s a big part of your total costs. What would you pay yourself per hour? Your time performing DIY lawn care vs. professional might be better spent at work, enjoying time with family, or learning a new hobby.

Are Professional Lawn Care Services Worth the Cost?

On the fence about DIY lawn care vs. hiring a professional to take care of your lawn care needs? Then let’s review the value you may get from choosing this option.

Lawn care is a science. It’s not just applying random products to your grass or guessing.

Timing your product applications is vital to getting good results. Throughout the year, you might go through more than a dozen lawn care treatments. Each of those must be timed at incredibly specific intervals. While home improvement stores might provide you with some guidance, they usually just provide a generic formula to follow that might involve fewer applications or something your lawn might not even need.

Also, lawn care professionals do this work all day, every day, while your time is limited. This means you might be able to squeeze it in during a weekend or evening, but you might have some weather challenges or life distractions. Before you know it, you’ve missed your application window. Now what do you do? Professionals have you on a schedule so this never gets missed.

Lawn care professionals also use better products – things you can’t find in home improvement stores. They are trained to use these commercial-grade products properly and obtain a license to do the work. Better products applied by someone with better training will naturally give you better results.

Your Lawn is Worth Professional Care

Now that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of DIY lawn care vs. professional lawn care services, you are ready to make a more confident choice – one that is best for you.

Embracing professional lawn care means you’re opting for a proactive approach to maintaining your lawn, which gives your home better curb appeal. This way, you also avoid any stress that can result when you have to remember your lawn’s needs in addition to those of your family and your home.

Still confused on which decision makes the most sense for you? Give Lawn & Pest Solutions a call. We want to help you make the most informed and best decision for you. We are happy to take the time to help you compare programs and costs so you know what a professional lawn care program includes.

Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for professional lawn care services in Memphis, TN and Northern MS? We want to learn more about you and help you have the best lawn in the neighborhood. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan that is perfect for you and your lawn.