Best Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Lawn Care (2023)

When you have a lawn care professional take over your property management, you will save a lot of time. However, this type of service also costs quite a bit of money and may not give you the service you are looking for. There are lots of great benefits to taking over your property’s landscaping needs. Many homeowners worry that they won’t know how to handle things like weed killer, bare patches, crabgrass, and aeration. With the help of a do-it-yourself lawn care company, you can have the best of both worlds; control over your property with guided information.

Compare the Best DIY Lawn Care Subscriptions

	Sunday Lawn Care	LawnBright	Lawn Serv	Turf Box	Instead
Customized Plan	✓	✓	✓	✓
Natural Ingredients	✓	✓	Optional	X	✓
Mobile App	X	X	X	X	X
Soil Testing Kit	✓	✓	✓	X	X
Weed Control Included	X	✓	Optional	✓	X
Fertilizer Included	✓	✓	Optional	X	✓
Kid- and Pet-Friendly	✓	✓	Some Plans	X	✓
Individual Purchases	✓	✓	✓	✓	X
Annual Cost	$120-$330	$180-$340	$182-$400	$121-350	$140-$264

Three Options For Lawn Care Maintenance

Lawn care is more than just mowing. Once you realize all that goes into keeping a healthy lawn, the entire concept becomes quite a bit more complicated. Homeowners are left with three basic options for lawn care in their homes.

DIY

The DIY option is for those that can handle everything on their own. If you are a DIY landscaper, you should have some knowledge of broadleaf weeds, proper fertilizing protocol, and general lawn maintenance procedures. People that handle the entire process on their own have studied and spent time learning about what works.

Read our detailed Sunday lawn care review.

Guided Lawn Care

Guided lawn care is very much like DIY, except that you will have a resource to help with soil testing and recommendations. With a guided lawn care service, you will know when to fertilize, how to treat grubs, and even when to put down grass seed on your turf. This option provides the perfect combination of value and information.

Full-Service Lawn Care

A full-service lawn care company will handle everything that your lawn needs. If you have a full-service lawn care provider, you won’t even need to own a lawnmower. A full-service company like TruGreen provides professional lawn care regardless of the type of grass that your property features. TruGreen can maintain a beautiful lawn, yet they also trim trees, prevent weeds and even dethatch. This is a truly hands-off approach to taking care of your lawn, and it is the best solution for some people.

To learn more: TruGreen Review

Best Do It Yourself Lawn Care: Sunday Lawn Care

If you enjoy mowing your lawn on a Saturday morning, but you are worried about handling things like weed control and pre-emergent herbicide, Sunday Lawn Care is the ideal solution for you. Everything about this company is done to support and encourage the average homeowner who wants to take care of their turfgrass safely and effectively. If you know your lawn needs a bit more attention, but you aren’t sure where to start, Sunday can help.

What Is Sunday Lawn Care

Sunday Lawn care is a company that provides curated solutions to all of your lawn care needs. You will send a soil test kit to Sunday Lawn Care in addition to data about your climate and property. The results will be analyzed, and a plan will be put together that suits the needs of your property.

Sunday is very intentional about the type of chemicals and fertilizers that they use. Everything that you put on your lawn will be safe for both children and pets. Whether you want to use a crabgrass preventer or get rid of some of the dandelions growing in your turf, Sunday can help.

How Does Sunday Lawn Care Work?

Once Sunday has the data they need about your property, they can start sending you the products you need to care for your lawn properly. Cool-season grasses and warm-season grasses have different times of the year that they will need attention. Sunday can help with the timing of your application as well.

One of the great things about Sunday is that once your plan is in place and working, you will get your product delivered on time and ready to distribute to your lawn. Most homeowners will receive a package in the early spring that gives them everything necessary to green up the lawn after the winter season.

You will give your property size to Sunday so that they can give you just the right amount of product for your lawn.

What Are The Requirements To Sign Up For Sunday Lawn Care?

Potentially our favorite thing about Sunday is that you can have zoysia, St. Augustine, bluegrass, Bermuda, or even fescue grass, and Sunday Lawn care can help. There are no requirements to sign up, aside from sending in a soil sample and getting your curated solutions and plans.

The customer support team at Sunday provides plenty of lawn care tips and information to help you achieve and maintain a green lawn. Although you will be handling the work on your own, you will have the confidence of a knowledgeable professional supporting you the entire way.

What To Know About DIY Lawn Care

Before you start taking care of your own lawn, there are a few things that you need to know. One of the great things about using a service like Sunday Lawn Care is that you can get recommendations about how to take care of the lawn and the right times to do it. Here are a few things to remember when starting your own lawn care.

Mowing Frequency & Direction

When you take care of your own grass, you will need to establish a mowing frequency and alternate the direction. It is never a good idea to set your mower blades really low as this could scalp the grass. If you want a lush lawn, you need to pay close attention to the height of the mower. It is also smart to alternate the direction you cut the grass as it is healthier for the grass.

Trimming

In addition to mowing, you will need to establish a time frame for trimming your trees and bushes as well. Trimming the bushes and plants away from the turf will also help ensure your grass has enough sunlight to thrive.

Fertilization

Fertilization helps your grass grow stronger and thicker as well. The grass blade will typically start to thin out if the soil does not have enough nutrients. Fertilization can be combined with seeing at times to promote a fresh start to the growing season and get your grass on the right track for the year.

Pest Control

Sometimes your grass will become infested with grubs or moths, and they will attack your grass. These pests can be difficult to get rid of, and in order to stop the problem, you may need to treat your turf. There are both inorganic and organic solutions to be able to handle pests.

Disease

Certain issues can cause your grass to get a disease. Sometimes a fungus or a disease is caused by getting a bit too much water from the sprinkler. Other times the area is being contaminated because of a local environmental issue.

Aeration/Dethatching/Overseeding

Additional services you may have to consider when handling your own lawn care are things like an annual oversees, dethatching or aeration. These are more like projects that you will have to complete in order to keep your grass looking great from one season to the next. These projects are going to require certain tools and equipment to make sure they get completed properly.

Compare Lawn Care Services

• Lawn Doctor vs. TruGreen
• TruGreen vs. Weed Man
• Sunday Lawn Care vs. TruGreen
• TruGreen vs. DIY lawn care

Conclusion – Is A Do It Yourself Lawn Care Provider Worth It?

If you feel overly confident about your ability to handle your lawn and turf’s needs, you can probably get by without a do-it-yourself lawn care provider. However, most people find that when it comes to fungus, fertilization, and pest control, the do-it-yourself lawn care provider can save the day. Having a bit of guidance and understanding about what you are doing to your lawn will make the process that much safer and more effective long term.

House Method Home Warranty Ranking Methodology

At House Method, transparency and trust are our most important values for the reader. We’ve done the homework for you and have researched over 50 home warranty companies so you can have the information you need to make the best choice for your home. 

Our team spent hours on the phone speaking to representatives from each home warranty company to get information right from the source. We also dug into the fine print on each company’s service agreement to ensure no detail was left out.

To make the most of our research, we developed an objective rating system to score each home warranty company based on the following criteria:

• Plans: Do they provide a variety of plan options? We looked at the number of plans each company offered and the flexibility of adjusting the plan.
• Prices: How reasonable are the monthly and service fees compared to the industry average? We compared the costs of each company to competitors.
• Coverage: How many items are covered in each plan? We looked at the number of items each company covers. We dig into all service contracts available to get all the details.
• Customer service: How is the customer experience when calling the providers? Based on our phone calls, we judged each company’s customer service.
• Trust: What do customers rate the company? We looked into what customers are saying about their experience with the company.
• Nationwide availability: How many states does the company cover? We found the number of states covered by each company.
• Unique perks: Does the company offer discounts or cover special items? We looked for perks offered by each company that set them apart from the competition.

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