5 Questions to Always Ask a Lawn Care Company

Everybody has questions. This is especially true when it comes to services you don’t know as much about.

For instance, maybe you don’t know everything it takes to maintain your lawn – what nutrients it needs or why, what ideal soil for growing grass looks like, why weeds continue to erupt or how to keep those bare spots and nasty blemishes out of your lawn.

That’s where asking questions can help you better understand what you need to keep your lawn looking great.

We know you have questions about lawn care services in Central and Southern Maryland, and that’s why we’d love to help. While we welcome questions in person, we’d love to help you here by providing some answers to basic questions we get all the time to help you grow your lawn care knowledge and hire the right professional.

5 Important Questions to Ask a Lawn Care Company

A great Maryland lawn doesn’t magically happen by itself. Lawns, like other plants, need some care.

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To hire the best professional to take care of your lawn, keep these questions to ask before hiring a lawn care company handy. The answers will give you guidance in making a confident decision.

1. What Do Lawn Care Services Typically Include?

Of the many questions to ask a lawn care company, one of the best to start with is understanding what the company’s lawn care program includes.

While many lawn care programs may look similar initially, there will be some variations from one company to the next. Typically, a standard lawn care service includes the following:

  • Lawn fertilization, where technicians apply a professional grade fertilizer at certain intervals in the proper amounts. This usually includes lawn fertilization four times per year in early spring, late spring, summer, and fall – roughly in six- to eight-week intervals. A fifth application may also happen if the season begins earlier.
  • Customized weed control that includes both preventive and curative tactics to battle the various weeds in your lawn. This is because some weeds will need different tactics to eliminate them.
  • A soil test, which will give your lawn care technician vital information about your soil, including what fertilization needs you have and whether or not you need soil improvement strategies, such as lime applications.
  • Lime applications to improve your soil if they are necessary. There are maintenance lime applications that can help keep your soil pH in line, as well as corrective lime applications that can help improve your pH if it’s unbalanced.
  • Turf insect and disease inspections, which can alert you if you have an infestation and lead to applications to help eliminate the problem.

Once you have an answer on what the basic lawn care program includes, you can also ask about additions, such as preventive grub control, core aeration and overseeding, and surface-feeding insect control.

2. Why is a Soil Test Important in Lawn Care?

Having a soil test done can help guide your lawn care program. You want to make sure this is one of the questions you ask when choosing a lawn care service because it’s a key component to getting a lawn care service that works in an optimum way.

lawn care expert performs soil testA soil test tells you your lawn’s pH. A proper pH level ensures your lawn can absorb fertilizer in the right way so it’s not wasted. So if you get a soil test, you can discover whether your pH is off and you need to bring it to the correct level with lime applications. Once it’s at a good level, your lawn will respond better to fertilization and look healthier, greener, and thicker.

3. How Long Does It Take to See Results After Lawn Care Treatments

After each lawn care treatment, you will typically notice results between one to two days or up to one week after.

lawn care technician fertilizes healthy green grass A lot can depend on the treatment. Your lawn’s condition and the fertilizer type used will determine whether or not you see fast visual changes. Weeds, on the other hand, may take a few days to disappear.

Include this in your lawn care company questions to get a feel for their knowledge on lawn care treatments and how they respond to customer inquiries and what kind of education they offer. This can tell you a lot about the type of service provider they are.

4. Are Lawn Care Services Worth the Cost?

Your home landscape looks so much better with a healthier, thicker, greener lawn. You experience benefits in aesthetics, as well as the boosted oxygen, reduced temperatures, and drop in air pollution. But to give you all this, your lawn needs a little TLC.

As you explore your options, you may find some DIY ideas to try, but you will also want to explore hiring a professional. As you compare the two for lawn care services in Central and Southern Maryland, you’ll wonder which one is more or less expensive and which one is the better investment.

homeowner opens bag of fertilizer The home improvement store will have products you can explore for DIY lawn care. You’ll need the right products and a granular spreader and sprayer. Then you have to learn how to calibrate your equipment before each use and follow the product labels to make treatments correctly. To do all this properly, you want to read up on some lawn care best practices to make sure you follow proper treatment timing throughout the year.

By performing DIY services, you learn a new skill, but if you add everything up, you may find you’re not really saving any money compared to the professional route. And you’re spending your nights and weekends doing the work.

With the professional approach, you don’t need to buy inferior, expensive products or equipment or spend time researching lawn care. You can ask the right questions and hire a company you trust to maintain your lawn and give it the care it needs for maximum success.

5. Is Lawn Care Safe for Waterways and the Chesapeake Bay?

Just like you, we want to protect the Chesapeake Bay here in Maryland, too.

That’s why waterway safety is among the questions to ask a lawn care company. It ensures they care about our community, too, and are doing what is best for you and for the environment.

lawn care expert meets with customers A precisely and properly fertilized and maintained lawn actually filters out nutrients and other particles from water and rainfall runoff, preventing it from getting into local waterways. But when products aren’t applied correctly and at the right frequencies or in the right amounts, using proper techniques, your lawn won’t become thick and green and turn into that great filter.

Have More Questions For Us?

We know you desire a lawn that looks great – one you can walk through barefoot and enjoy each and every day.

We hope answering these questions helps you narrow down your lawn care choices and make a better, more informed decision.

But if you still have questions, give Natural Green a call. We can inspect your lawn and offer suggestions on what it needs to look its best, delivering a lawn care program that works best for you.

Want to improve the look of your lawn in Central or Southern Maryland? Natural Green Systems would love to help. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we’ll prepare a customized plan so you can have the kind of lawn you love.

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