G

I just moved into our new house about a month ago and have finallyhad the chance to sit down and start thinking about lawn care. Seeing as this is my first house,I have absolutley no idea what the heck I am supposed to do besides break out the lawn-mower when it gets to high

So, I decided to get some quotes from some different companies on what it would cost to have them take care of the feeding, etc of the lawn. Here is the results:

-TruGreen: I have eliminated them already as some searching of the net shows that there are a LOT of unhappy customers of their's.

-Scott's Lawn Service: Nice guy, seemed to know what he was taking about not only with the grass, but with the plants as well. He was a great salesman though, and that concerns me.

-Real Green: Locally owned company that has been around for 3 years. Guy was cool, but seemed to be less knowledgable then the Scott's guy. He was still a good salesman though.

So when I broke it down, they both offer about the same services for about the same costs (the local comapny is a tad higher). I like the idea of having someone els be responsible for the lawn-as I really have no idea about anything remotley involving a green thumb. Here are my questions to you:

1) Do any of you have lawn service like this? (where they fertilize, take care of weeds, etc, and you mow and water)
2) Is it worth it to hire these services or do I just go to B&Nand spend a day reading about lawn care?
3) If you do have any type of service, who do you use? Do you use Scott's? If so, how do you like them?

Basically, a little guidance would be much appreciated! TIA.

Scrib

meh... Do it yourself and save some money. How many square feet is your lot?

Buy a Scotts spreader and use the Scotts 5 step program annually. Each bag tells you what to set the spreader at. You then just make 4-5 foot passes thoughout your yard and ensure you get get equal coverage everywhere. That's about it.

If you can trim and mow a yard, you can fertilize. I would not trust any commecial service to take care of my yard. Throw in some GrubX and maybe even some Ironite periodically and you'll be good to go.

I did all the landscaping and take care of the yard myself. I get pretty good results.

http://homepage.mac.com/eribble/PhotoAlbum5.html

pmptx

Lawn compaies are OK, I had Tru Green in Dallas and they were Ok. I do my own yard care, it is simple and relaxing.

Some time online or with a book is well worth it either way, as you will know what they are doing if you go service.

Also, Neil Sperry is the God of TX lawn and Garden, so I woul look at his book s first.

Good luck you two.

TBone2004

I have a local company do mine - and it looks really really good. Embarassing all the compliments we get...but like someone else said - it costs money. I added mine up and compared with if I bought the chemicals myself and I am paying like an extra 30 bucks each application for them to do it - so to me that is worth it to have it come out right. And they guarantee every application - so if they treat for weeds and weeds show up - they will retreat for free.

I used to have them aerate, but I did that myself last year and will continue to do so, cause I did a kick ass job and so far this spring it really shows. all depends on how much it means to you and if you have the extra money....some people do not care about their lawns....to me it is worth it.

1killercls

I do it all myself. I recommend LESCO Products.

http://www.lesco.com/

Pic is from last summer...but you get the IDEA.

Scribesoft

Gotta agree with Killer on the Lesco products. They own all. If you do decide to go with Lesco, make sure you buy the professional stuff directly from a Lesco distributor. The Lesco shit they sell at HD/Lowe's is about the same as Scotts.

The cheap stuff will green up the lawn quickly, but will not last as long. The professional Lesco fert will take a bit longer to "kick in", but will give you a better green coat and will last much longer.

I use nothing but Lesco and will already be doing my 4th mow of the season at the end of this week (and this is up in NH where we've been flirting with temps on the 50-60's over the past couple of months). My lawn is already perfectly green and has received 3 solid cuts. Many of my neighbors lawns are just beginning to green up and mine looks months ahead.

During summers in college I worked for a local lawn application company for 4 years and learned a ton about fertilizers, lawn care, lawn diseases, etc.. We used nothing but the Lesco professional products and our lawns always killed the Chem-Lawn lawns..

You can get by with Scotts or the cheaper Lesco products, but if you're really anal about the grass, go with what the pro's use.

I do 100% of the work myself. It's not difficult and can be very relaxing. You will also have more pride in a green lawn that you created. I can't imagine having the same pride looking out over a "bought" lawn.

G

I have always admired your lawn! I really care a LOT about the lawn and landscaping-not only for the looks, but also for the care-I have invested a lot of money into this place, and I want it to look good!

With that said, our lawn area is about 2k sq feet, quite small actually. I would love to take care of my own lawn-I actually enjoy doing that sort of thing.
So here are my concerns:
-If I treat for weeds, and then they show up, I have to figure out what the heck is going on-and I have no clue when it comes to gardening.
-I really care about my lawn. Is it that hard to kill it or mess it up with the wrong applications?

What it comes down to is that I am afraid of messing it up. From what Scrib says, I think that I can do it! Now, where do I start??

1killercls

Buy from a Lesco Warehouse or online only.

I take great pride in my yard, especially since I do it all on my own. To me it is an immediate gratification thing...

Scrib

lesco's website is way too confusing. I can't even find what would be similar to the Scott's program.


sheeeesh

G

I just spent about 20 mins looking over everything. Seems like you REALLY need to know what the hell you are doing to navigate through their website.

pmptx

There look to be local places with contacts if you enter your zip on the lesco site. I would assume that person should be able to set a program similar to the Scott's program with Lesco product.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

I tried doing our lawn last year... but a lawn in the south is completely different then a lawn in the north. I've fertilized, overseeded, and so on... and the yard doesn't look much better. At this point I just gave up and we have a landscaping company maintaining our yard. They charge $30 per visit, and come once every other week. They do everything... mow, edge, cleanup, fertilize (full fertilization is $45 per application, 4 times per year, quick fertilization is included with each mow), weed control, and so on. For $60/mo it's WELL worth it in my eyes. Already after only a few visits the lawn looks better, so I'll save my money buying the stuff and my time applying it and just have someone who knows what they're doing take care of it.

If they need me I'll be in back by the pool


.

1killercls

Correct. I just follow what the dude at the Lesco Wharehouse tells me. Pretty easy really.

G

Ok, so I figured that I would give it a shot and see what I can do. One question-do I aerate now? The reason that I ask is because I have been told two different things. One said yes, and the other said no, the reason being that the lawn is too new-the roots aren't strong enough to aerate now.

Who do I believe? My lawn was "installed" about 2 months ago.

Scribesoft

You don't need to aerate yet. If the lawn is that new, you may do more damage running the machine over softer soil than just leaving it alone for now.

G

That's the big problem though, the "soil" is very compact . . .

Scrib

Even if your soil is compact, you need to wait. My sod will be in two years this fall. I will be aerating this fall.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Yeah, we waited a year before aerating. If you do it when it is too new the roots may not be strong enough and you can damage your lawn...

Water-S

I own a lawn care company. plus with farming and my degree in agriculture I know a lot of soils. I used farm grade fertilizer on all my clients yard. not that wussy stuff from Home depot or Lowes. I get mine mixed at work(I work at a feed and grain co-op). I put 2000 lbs of triple 19 on per acre of all my clients. that makes the grass grow. I usually do it in the fall and spring. I just did 2 customers about a week ago.

1killercls

Right now I just put on 18-0-10

G

Ok, what do the numbers mean? Also, what type of grass do you have?

Also, thanks for the aerating tip. I will wait on that.

Scribesoft

There will always be 3 numbers on a bag of fert.

The first number stands for Nitrogen: The most important ingredient for a dark green lawn. The nitrogen helps green up the lawn.

The second number stands for Phosphorous: This helps the roots. The stronger your root system, the less likely you are to see disease and weeds in your lawn.

The third number sands for Potassium: I generally consider a high "third" number of potassium very important right before winter time(in my area, at least) as it really helps the hardiness of the grass thoughout the winter months. This is one of the key ingredients which allows me to have a green lawn sooner in the spring.


Another thing I have to deal with here is applying Lime to my lawn. This area use to be deep in the woods and I'm fighting the battle of regulating the acidity of my soil. Do a Google of lime for your lawn to read up. You should always get a solid soil sample done before you apply lime to make sure you know the actual makeup of YOUR soil.

In the past 2 years, I've already dropped over 1,000lb of Lime on the lawn and she's still not exactly where I want her to be. Close, but not perfect.

bl^5

PLEASE tell me you had a sprinkler system installed...

G

Ha, of course!

Scribe, thanks for the info-much apreciated.