When it comes to your Northern Virginia lawn, you might wonder what kind of care it needs and how often it needs attention to thrive each year, so it can grace your home with thick, green grass that boosts your curb appeal and outdoor enjoyment.
How many lawn care treatments should you receive? What should be included in each treatment? What else does your lawn need?
While you may know your grass could benefit from a lawn care package or need regular maintenance, you might not know exactly which program would fit your lawn best.
In fact, you might find you have a lot of questions, and when all the lawn care companies you’re looking at have something different to offer, that can just bring about more questions instead of answers. You don’t want your lawn to get more treatments than you need, but you also don’t want to miss something important.
This can certainly be confusing. You should be able to easily compare lawn care packages and find one that gives you the lawn you want in your budget. But comparing one company’s offerings to another can be a lot like comparing apples and oranges.
We know it can be frustrating. That’s why we’d like to help you wade through the various offerings out there so you can better understand what you should look for and pick the best lawn care package for you and your Northern Virginia home.
How to Choose a Lawn Care Service Package
When you’re assessing lawn care packages, you want to look at a few key areas to ensure you’re not missing the items that are most important for your lawn.
Here are some of the key things to consider when trying to create and maintain a gorgeous, green lawn.
1. Remember, Total Number of Visits Isn’t As Important As The Specific Lawn Care Treatments You’re Getting
Many lawn care companies tout their number of visits to your property, but the number of visits isn’t as important as what lawn care treatments a company provides while their technicians are there.
Thorough lawn care packages in Northern Virginia take into account which services should be performed at specific times of the year, incorporating them into the number of visits the company provides. So, it doesn’t matter what the number of visits are as long as all the services are targeted and completed.
While it’s a temptation to use visit numbers as a comparison point, it doesn’t mean you’re getting more for your lawn. For instance, what if that company is charging for visits you don’t need?
You’re looking for a well-rounded program that meets your various needs throughout the year. Your program should include lawn care fertilization, weed control, a limestone application, and the option for grub control. Then, additionally, you want to be able to have the chance to add aeration, overseeding, and top dressing, as well as mosquito, flea, and tick control if needed.
Finding out specifically what’s included in a lawn care package is the best way to truly understand what you’re getting, and that information should be available to you up front.
2. Ensure You’re Getting a Soil Test And Proper Lawn Fertilization
The use of a professional fertilization product applied at the correct times throughout the year will give your Northern Virginia lawn the nutrients it’s lacking in your home landscape. You want your nutrients delivered at key times, including early spring, late spring, early summer, late summer, fall and late fall. Each one delivers nutrients that help the plant at different times of its growth.
To find out what your lawn is missing, you want your lawn care professional to conduct a soil test, showing your soil pH and any nutrient and micronutrient problems. A soil analysis is essential in how to choose a lawn care package because it provides vital data that guides your services, particularly your lawn fertilization and lime applications. This ensures your services are more targeted to your specific needs, delivering better results.
3. Embrace Multiple Weed Control Strategies
Weed control is a big part of lawn care packages. There are multiple weeds you have to face throughout the year in your grass, and each one must be battled a different way.
Additionally, some weeds are tougher to control than others. You want a lawn care program that will target Northern Virginia’s weeds in a manner that best keeps them out of your grass.
This usually means two pre-emergent crabgrass prevention treatments applied in early and late spring, as well as post-emergent weed control from early summer through late fall to take care of those tougher weeds that emerge and need multiple applications to eliminate like ground ivy and wild violet.
A company that uses multiple weed control tactics knows weeds and can better manage them for you so they don’t become a nuisance.
4. Grub Control Shouldn’t Be Ignored
In Northern Virginia, grubs are never a fun addition to a lawn, and they can be quite common.
Grubs are actually the larvae of insects like Japanese Beetles, European Chafers, Southern Masked Chafers, and June Beetles. Grubs usually have white, C-shaped, soft, squishy bodies. Throughout their life cycles, grubs can damage your grass above and below ground.
Receiving a preventive grub control treatment as part of your lawn care package in early summer is the best time to target these larvae when they are young enough to control and before they have eaten too much of your grass roots and are too big to adequately manage.
5. Consider Aeration, Overseeding, And Topdressing
Aeration, overseeding, and topdressing are typically considered additions or upgrades to basic lawn care packages. But since these services do so much to improve your lawn, they are important to think about.
Receiving annual aeration in the fall can help break up soil compaction and give your lawn a chance to better absorb oxygen, water, and nutrients. Overseeding at that same time can help incorporate improved varieties of grass into your lawn, helping you obtain a thicker, healthier stand of desirable grass. The seed-to-soil contact is highly improved when you settle your seeds into those aeration holes during the cooler fall months. Topdressing with these services is a chance to incorporate organic matter into your soil to improve its overall structure as well.
If your lawn is particularly thin or you notice multiple grass varieties or just overall sluggish growth or discoloration, aeration, overseeding, and topdressing could be important services to ask about including in your lawn care plan to ensure you’re doing what you can to restore your lawn to its best health.
6. Don’t Forget To Look At The Company’s People, Education, And Professionalism
As you’re comparing lawn care packages, make sure to read their “About” pages on their websites to learn more about the people who work there. Check out what kind of experience they have and what sort of training they receive. Read about the company’s values. Do their employees stick around so they continue learning or do they always have new employees they have to train from scratch every time?
Also, you want to make sure your lawn care technician takes the time to answer your questions, so you can learn more about how to care for your lawn. This improves your knowledge and gives you a chance to understand why certain lawn care treatments are important and where your lawn is having specific issues.
A professional company will always be courteous and kind, sharing their expertise with you and offering consistent service. They will have technicians who have logoed uniforms and clean, logoed trucks, embracing pride in their work. They won’t miss appointments or show up late or ignore your questions.
Choose the Best Lawn Care Package In Northern Virginia
Different lawn care service companies will offer different services. They will also build these services we mentioned above into their lawn care packages in different combinations. As you choose a lawn care treatment program, you’ll want to evaluate what’s included in each one to make the proper comparison.
As you're checking out various company’s offerings, and you only see one program and everything else offered as add-on services, do the math to make sure you understand the costs. On paper, this offering might look like the cheapest and best at first glance, but once you do the math, you may find you’re not saving money at all. In fact, it could cost a lot more.
Look for a lawn care company that spells everything out in their service offerings very simply for you on their website. This way, you aren’t surprised by anything. After all, no one likes surprises that cost them more money.
We know this whole process can be complicated for you. Turf’s Up would like to help! Give us a call and we can help you learn what your Northern Virginia lawn needs and which package would be the best fit for it so you can get a lawn you’re proud of.
Ready to learn why Turf’s Up could be your totally awesome choice for lawn care services in Northern Virginia? We’re stoked to learn more about you and help you have the best lawn on the block. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan that is perfect for you and your yard.
Image Source: Grub
