Your lawn plays a crucial role in the overall appearance of your Tupelo, Oxford, or New Albany home.
It greets visitors with its lush, green stretch. A healthy lawn can even set the benchmark for the neighborhood.
Conversely, a patchy, brown, and neglected yard can diminish the area's appeal. You want your lawn to stay healthy, but achieving this requires specific services to reach your ideal standard—the gold standard. This outcome doesn’t occur randomly.
You might not be aware of all the steps necessary to achieve the lush lawn you desire. You may even think that a quick visit to the local home improvement store for some DIY products, such as fertilizer and weed control, will suffice.
Hold on a moment. While you may not know exactly what your lawn needs, you definitely want to avoid problems like diseases or weeds that could have been prevented.
Your goal is to be confident that you’re choosing the right actions for your lawn. As you consider what your grass requires, let’s explore some advantages and disadvantages of DIY lawn care versus hiring professionals in Tupelo, Oxford, and New Albany, MS.
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 other plants, your grass requires sunlight, water, and nutrients to thrive. Lawns naturally filter nutrients from the soil through exposure to sun and water, but this can result in nutrient deficiencies.
Additionally, grass is often planted in land that has been disturbed by construction, leading to depleted soil that lacks essential nutrients. Without regular fertilization, lawns become more vulnerable to weeds and diseases.
Applying the correct nutrients through regular fertilization—whether done DIY or by professionals—can help maintain a healthy, resilient lawn.
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 pros and cons of DIY lawn care.
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 various fertilizers with different mixes of each component. 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 should use a lawn care spreader for DIY lawn care, as opposed to a professional. To deliver the right amount of granular fertilizer across your lawn, you need to calibrate the spreader before every application and maintain 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, you will need to make another application, which will vary depending on 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.
Applying weed control products at the correct time of year is essential for effective management, and this timing varies depending on the weed species. Some weeds should be targeted with pre-emergent treatments—before they sprout—while others are better controlled post-emergence, once they are visible in the lawn.
Understanding these nuances can be challenging for DIY enthusiasts. In fact, it often takes lawn care professionals years of experience, along with licensing and certifications, to master these skills.
Additionally, it's crucial to be aware of Mississippi state or even local laws related to lawn care products to ensure compliance. The upside is that learning this skill can be quite rewarding, especially when your lawn turns out well after your efforts.
Performing proper DIY lawn care can definitely help you enjoy time outside, soaking up the sunshine and fresh, sweet air.
As you walk around your lawn, checking for weeds, bare spots, and other imperfections, you get a good outdoor warmup. Then, calibrating your spreader and applying lawn care products provides a solid outside workout.
Since you’ll be working in summer, you might want to wear a t-shirt and shorts, but it’s safer and more appropriate to don long sleeves, long pants, and gloves for DIY lawn work compared to professional jobs.
The question of whether DIY lawn care is less expensive than professional lawn care arises frequently. 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 need to purchase the necessary equipment and products to complete 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, as it’s a significant part of your total costs. What would you pay yourself per hour? Your time spent on DIY lawn care versus professional services might be better spent at work, enjoying time with family, or learning a new hobby.
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 crucial to achieving optimal 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 provide a generic formula to follow that might involve fewer applications or something your lawn might not even need.
Additionally, lawn care professionals perform this work all day, every day, whereas 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.
Based on your understanding of the pros and cons of DIY versus professional lawn care, you're now prepared to choose the best option for you.
Choosing professional lawn services reflects a proactive approach to maintaining your yard, enhancing your home's curb appeal. It also helps reduce the stress of remembering your lawn’s needs along with those of your family and household. Still unsure which choice suits you best?
Contact Lawn & Pest Solutions. We're here to help you make a well-informed decision. We will gladly spend time comparing programs and costs so you know exactly what a professional lawn care service has to offer.
Ready to learn why Lawn & Pest Solutions could be your choice for professional lawn care services in Tupelo, Oxford & New Albany, 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.