As a northern NJ homeowner, you care about the appearance of your home. You know that a beautiful lawn adds curb appeal and value to your property, but keeping your lawn looking good can be a challenge.
If you’re trying to decide between hiring a landscape contractor and doing the work yourself, here’s some useful information that could sway your decision.
Basic Things to Consider
Time – Keeping your lawn well-maintained and healthy is a time-consuming job. Consider your daily schedule and how much free time you have to devote to your lawn maintenance. If you spend a lot of time at work, you may not want to commit your off days to yard work.
Money – Landscape maintenance services will cost you more than DIY efforts, but it might be worth it. If you’re doing more than just mowing the lawn, you’ll need to know about plant care, nutrients, fertilizers and pesticides. Are you willing to devote time to horticulture education?
Convenience – Lawn care will take you away from other activities like work, family time, entertaining friends and relaxation. Although you will pay for professional landscape services, the convenience may justify the cost.
Commitment – To keep your landscape green and healthy, you will have to commit to a regular schedule of care. Most lawns require weekly or bi-weekly maintenance to look good. Unless you’re willing to commit to that schedule, landscape maintenance services will be best.
Quality – Basic lawn care is time consuming and labor intensive, but quality lawn care requires a different level of commitment. Understanding healthy lawn care products, soil types, growth periods and pruning schedules take more than basic lawn care knowledge.
Things to Consider With DIY Lawn Care
In addition to your time and labor, DIY lawn care for your Bergen County home will require an investment in equipment, products and learning. Take a look at additional investments you’ll need to make.
Equipment
Lawn Mower – You’ll need to invest in a good mower, gas or electric, that can handle your lawn. If you have a large property, you may want to look at a riding lawn mower. The size and power of the lawn mower you’ll need will depend on the size of your lawn and type of grass. A more expensive mower with an attached bag for grass clippings is best.
Leaf Blower – Unless you want to rake up all of the leaves in your yard by hand, invest in a leaf blower. Find a type and size that’s easy to handle and works for your lawn needs. Oh, and unless you want to go deaf, invest in a good set of ear plugs because leaf blowers are deafening!
Spreader – You will need to buy a broadcast type spreader to spread grass seed, fertilizer and nutrients in an even, consistent amount.
Yard Tools – Plan to invest in a variety of yard tools like a rake, shovel, hoe, edger, hedge clippers, trimmers, pruners, ladders, pails, buckets and yard gloves.
Products
Lawn Food – Your lawn will require regular feedings to stay green and healthy. You’ll want to brush up on the types of lawn food and the proper time to feed the lawn.
Mulch – You will need to invest in mulch for your landscape to maintain moisture and prevent weeds. You’ll need to learn about the different varieties of mulch available and determine which is best for your landscape.
Pesticides – There’s a complex variety of weed killers and pesticides on the market. Be prepared to get out your text book to review them all.
In addition to spending time and money on necessary equipment and products for DIY landscape maintenance services, you are likely to make mistakes in your lawn care and maintenance procedures.
Since you are not a professional landscape contractor, you run the risk of overfeeding or underfeeding your lawn, missing feeding schedules, over watering or under watering plants and using the wrong type of fertilizers and pesticides that can actually harm or kill your lawn and plants.
Before you decide to take on DIY landscape maintenance services for your home, think about hiring a professional landscape contractor to handle them for you. Your investment in necessary time and labor, money for equipment and products and knowledge on proper care and procedures may not be worth your efforts.
Benefits of Hiring a Professional Landscape Contractor
With a busy lifestyle and overwhelming schedule, trying to take care of your own Bergen County lawn can be a daunting job. If you have a 40-hour work week, a family and an active social life, yard work and landscape maintenance can become an unpleasant chore.
With a hectic schedule, something will fall short and it’s likely to be your lawn care. The best thing to do is to hire a professional landscape service that can handle the work and keep your home looking its best all year.
There are many benefits from hiring a professional contractor for landscape maintenance services. Weekly maintenance will keep your property beautiful, healthy and well-manicured. Skilled service crews offer weekly Spring and Fall cleanups, border edging, lawn cutting, weeding and cleanup of all hard surfaces like driveways, walkways and pathways.
There are additional trained crews that provide extra maintenance services like planting small shrubs and plants, mulching, lawn renovations and pruning trees and shrubs. A professional landscape contractor will take the burden of yard work off your shoulders so you can enjoy more time with family and friends.
Advantages of Professional Landscape Maintenance Services
Property Analysis – Professional lawn care is based on your existing property conditions such as soil type, grass type, existing trees, shrubs and plants, drainage conditions, light conditions and any existing landscape problems.
Organic Lawn Care – Professional landscape contractors have organic products that produce a healthy lawn and protect the environment. There are no toxic chemicals and pesticides that can harm your children or pets or pollute your property. Most standard weed killers, fertilizers and insect repellents on the market contain toxic substances that can be harmful or fatal under certain contact situations. Organic lawn care is a safe, effective way to keep your lawn and landscape beautiful.
Plant Knowledge – Landscape maintenance professionals have an in-depth knowledge of trees, shrubs, plants and blooming plants in the northern New Jersey area. They only recommend trees and plants for your home that thrive in local conditions. This knowledge will guard you against costly mistakes made from planting the wrong landscape plantings.
Before you decide to tackle your own yard work, think about hiring a professional landscape company. Landscape maintenance services will save you lots of time, work and money in the end.