Lawn Care & Reviews

Lawn Care Services: Everything You Need to Know

Looking for professional lawn care services to make your lawn green and healthy? Caring for a lawn can require expertise if you live in a region with four distinct seasons and hot, humid summers. Read on for an overview of lawn maintenance services available and what to expect from working with a professional company.


What Are Common Lawn Care Services?

Lawn care services provide various treatments to improve residential and commercial lawns' health, appearance, and functionality. Core services typically include:

Professional lawn care service mowing the lawn.
  • Lawn mowing and maintenance: Companies provide regular mowing services on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly schedule. They use professional-grade mowing equipment for an even, clean cut and often edge walkways, driveways, and landscaping beds as part of the service.
  • Fertilization: Professional lawn care companies apply fertilizer during the growing season to replenish nutrients in the soil and spur lush, green growth. Different formulas provide seasonal nutrients needed in spring, summer, and fall.
  • Aeration: Aeration involves punching small holes into the soil to allow air, water, and nutrients to reach the grass roots. This stimulates growth and reduces soil compaction. Professional services use heavy-duty aeration machines.
  • Dethatching: Thatch is a layer of dead grass stems, debris, and roots accumulating on the lawn's surface over time. Dethatching removes this layer so water, air, and nutrients can better reach the soil.
  • Seeding: During overseeding, lawn care companies spread grass seed over the lawn to fill in bare or thinning areas and boost thickness. This helps crowd out weeds.
  • Pest and weed control: Lawn care services apply targeted pesticides and herbicides to eliminate weeds, insects, and diseases damaging the lawn. However, some companies use organic products to minimize chemical usage.

Many full-service companies offer additional services like shrub and tree care, landscape design, irrigation system installation, and more.


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What's The Average Cost of Lawn Care Services?

Lawn maintenance services and prices can vary based on several factors. We'll go over those below. Of course, the type of services you need will be the most significant cost factor to consider.

Here are some average price estimates for standard services:

  • The monthly price for comprehensive lawn care: $150
  • Monthly lawn mowing cost: $180
  • One-time fee for lawn fertilization: $50 (typically as part of a service plan)
  • One-time price for lawn aeration: $125
  • One-time price for dethatching: $210
  • One-time price for overseeding: $800
  • One-time price for preventative weed control: $85
  • The monthly price for reactive weed treatments: $85
  • The monthly price for lawn pest control: $80
  • One-time price for tree and shrub care: $600
Lawn Care Services
Residential lawn care plans will typically cost you around $150 per month. Individual services may start at $50.
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Hydroseeding Service
Hydroseeding involves applying a water, seed, and mulch slurry to a bare lawn. It costs $0.05โ€“$0.08/sq. ft.
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Lawn Aeration
Aeration promotes healthy grass growth & soil drainage. Professional aeration may cost you $150โ€“$250.
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What Should You Look For in a Lawn Care Company?

Finding a trusted lawn care company involves proper vetting. Look for these traits:

  • Licensed and insured: At a minimum, the company should carry liability insurance and have licensed staff, often certified through the National Association of Landscape Professionals.
  • Proper equipment: Professional lawn companies invest in commercial-grade mowers, spreaders, aerators, and other equipment homeowners don't typically own.
  • Turfgrass expertise: Look for in-house horticulturists or staff trained in turfgrass science. This expertise ensures proper care.
  • No contracts: Avoid companies locking you into multi-year service contracts you can't break without major fees. Go month to month.
  • Environmental responsibility: Some companies minimize pesticides and unnecessary treatments. Their practices protect the environment.
  • Customer service reputation: Talk to references and read online reviews to gauge responsiveness, professionalism, and service quality.
  • Free lawn evaluation: Quality companies perform soil tests and an in-depth lawn assessment before quoting services. There's no cost for this visit.

With attentive vetting and research, hiring reliable professional lawn care services ensures your lawn stays lush, green, and healthy year-round. Investing in professional maintenance now sets your lawn up for success for years to come.


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When Should You Hire Lawn Care Companies?

There are several signs it may be time to hire professional lawn care services:

  • Your lawn has numerous bare, thinning, or discolored areas.
  • It becomes overrun by difficult weeds like dandelions, crabgrass, or Creeping Charlie.
  • Your mowing and lawn care regimen requires too much time each week.
  • You lack the proper equipment, like an aerator or dethatcher, to improve the lawn's health.
  • Children or pets in the family have experienced allergic reactions to the lawn.

New homeowners unfamiliar with seasonal lawn care needs often find it less stressful to hire an experienced local company. Busy homeowners and businesses without the time for DIY lawn maintenance also rely on professionals.


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So, Are Lawn Care Services Worth It?

Ultimately, the costs of professional lawn care are well worth it for many homeowners. When you consider the hassle, time investment, and costs of buying or renting equipment to DIY all the proper seasonal lawn treatments, outsourcing to experts often makes sense.

Professionals have the knowledge, tools, and resources to nurse your lawn to its fullest health potential. Trying to DIY with inadequate equipment and limited know-how of lawn types often results in disappointing outcomes.

If you want to spend weekends relaxing or pursuing hobbies instead of doing backbreaking lawn work, professional services bring peace of mind. Your lawn will receive the expertise and care needed to flourish despite potentially humid, hot summers and varying seasons.

For homeowners wanting lush curb appeal and healthy turf for kids and pets to play on, professional lawn care services prove well worth the investment.


Frequently Asked Questions About Lawn Care Services

How do you maintain a perfect lawn?

To maintain a perfect lawn, you need to provide it with enough care and attention during the time it needs it the most. So, follow the detailed schedule outlined above. Youโ€™ll be many steps closer to achieving and maintaining the perfect lawn.


What time of year do you fertilize your lawn?

The exact time when you should treat it depends on whether or not you have cool-season or warm-season grass. If you have a warm-season grass lawn, the best time to fertilize your lawn is in spring. The ideal time to fertilize cool-season grass is in late summer or early fall.


How do I keep my grass green all year round?

Many things go into keeping your grass green all year round. To maintain a lush green color, you need to keep the yard healthy during all seasons with proper mowing, watering, aeration, fertilization and weed and pest control.


How often should you treat your lawn?

You should feed your grass two to four times a year. Keep in mind that just as you can under-fertilize, you can also over-fertilize the grass. This is why itโ€™s advisable to reach out to a professional lawn care company for tips and lawn care help.



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