You want your lawn to look perfect of course. Getting the best lawn fertilizer is a big key to making that a reality. We have talked about all the steps involved in a perfect lawn before. It is not a one step deal obviously. You can’t do just do part of the tasks required for a great looking lawn. It takes an complete program. But let’s focus on the fertilizing part for now.
There are many different ways to go about fertilizing your lawn. You can hire it out like any other task. You can do it yourself if you have the time. You can go organic. You can do it with traditional chemicals. Or you can do nothing and embarrass your family with your brownish gray grass. I don’t recommend the last option!
Big Company
When paying a company to put out the best lawn fertilizer for your property, you have some choices to make. Do you want a big company to do it or a small time operation? The bigger companies advertise like crazy. That is why you see all your neighbors using these well known companies. Names like TruGreen and King Green are seemingly everywhere. Bigger is not necessarily better though. Some of these big corporate operations get lots of complaints. I mean lots! They get the majority of the business due to their marketing.
Smaller Ones
Smaller fertilizing operations may be just a one man company. They may or not be better service providers than the bigger companies. But the difference is that you are dealing with the owner directly, not a manager that is there to simply smooth things over when problems arise. An owner at a small company will want to really make you happy in most cases. A manager is dealing with hundreds or thousands of clients so you may just be a number to him. As a general rule, I like smaller companies as opposed to bloated corporate operations. Huge numbers of trucks and employees does not mean a company is a better fit for you than one with just a couple of rigs and two or three associates.
Do-It-Yourself
When doing your own fertilizing, you can simply go to your local feed store or big box home improvement store for the products needed. I prefer the smaller feed and seed stores unless there is substantial savings at the bigger corporate establishment. You can choose between liquid fertilizers or granular. You may need a sprayer of some sort to use the liquid product. Although there are some weed control / fertilizers available that simply hook to your garden hose and you just spray away. No measuring required so it is a very simple solution.
Granual vs. Liquid Fertilizers
Granular fertilizers require a spreader of some kind. You can buy one for about $25 in most places. A hand held spreader is even cheaper in you have a very small yard. Of course you can always borrow your neighbor’s spreader if you are on friendly terms. People did much more tool sharing in the old days. That is a better way to save money and not fill your tool barn with every tool known to mankind!
Choosing between granular fertilizers and liquid kinds is a personal choice. I believe the liquid types do a more thorough job. The granular is just simpler to use and easier to get though with faster.
Organic or Chemical?
If you are going to try out some organic fertilizing techniques, be prepared for trial and error. And do some research. We have a few posts up about organic lawn care ourselves. I believe there is a place for more environmentally friendly lawn products. In general the organic methods do not work as well as the old school chemicals. But that doesn’t mean you won’t have a great lawn if you continue to improve your process as you go. It is important to track what is working and what isn’t so you can adjust as you go forward.
Now get out there and get that lawn greened up. A perfect lawn is nice to have when hosting your next outdoor BBQ.
As Always, Happy Mowing!
