With spring looming on the horizon, many homeowners are scrambling to find the best lawn care products to kick off the season with a bang.
Choosing the right products can give your lawn the boost it needs to start the growing season with vigorous, healthy growth, so selecting the best fit is essential.
Key Points:
- Lawn care subscription services include soil test kits, personalized product recommendations, and fertilizer that are tailored to each customer’s needs.
- Subscription boxes provide convenience by delivering the best products for a lawn directly to the doorstep.
- Some providers track local weather and other environmental factors to create even more personalized plans for customers.
Instead of combing through various resources to find the best products, you could opt for the convenience of a lawn care subscription service. But what do lawn care subscription services actually include?
Let’s find out!
What Is A Lawn Care Subscription Service?
Lawn care subscription services are stealing the spotlight, known for their convenience and usability. The subscription services work by delivering lawn care products directly to your doorstep routinely throughout the growing season.
They offer curated, personalized products specific to each customer’s needs, eliminating time-consuming research and extra stops at your local home improvement store.
For an annual, seasonal, or per-shipment price, you can receive a box of lawn care products based on your custom plan to ensure your lawn remains the envy of the neighborhood throughout the growing season.
What Does A Lawn Care Subscription Service Include?
Like most subscription service providers, the offerings of lawn care companies vary based on the provider you choose. Most lawn care subscription services include the basics, like a soil test kit, fertilizer, and weed control.
Some subscription boxes take it a step further by including grass seeds and spot treatments, although the inclusions vary based on your lawn’s needs and the provider.
Here are a few typical inclusions in a lawn care subscription box:
Soil Test Kit
Most lawn care subscription services kick off the process with a soil test kit. Generally, the first box after signing up contains a soil test kit for a soil sample. You’ll collect soil from around your yard, compiling it in the test container the provider sent to you.
Once you collect the soil, securely package it, and send it on its way. When the provider receives the soil sample, they’ll complete a testing analysis to determine the products best suited to your lawn’s needs.
Of course, the process varies based on the provider, so not all providers require a soil sample. Some providers base their picks on a database, so a soil sample is entirely unnecessary to start the process.
Personalized Picks
The personalized nature of a lawn care subscription service is arguably one of the best aspects. Once you send in your soil sample (if applicable) and submit the necessary information, your service provider will select products best suited to your lawn’s needs.
Some providers monitor your lawn with an algorithm, tracking local weather and other environmental factors.
This allows them to provide even more personalized care, ensuring you get the products your yard needs based on factors specific to your area.
Many popular lawn care subscription services offer organic product alternatives, enabling you to choose a more environmentally-friendly product line. Of course, the options vary based on the provider, so ensure you evaluate your options if you prefer to stick with organic or all-natural lawn care products.
Fertilizer
When most folks think of lawn additives, they think of fertilizer. After all, fertilizer plays a vital role in the health of your lawn. Most soils don’t contain the nutrients your turf grass needs, so fertilizer supplies these critical nutrients to support healthy growth.
By applying fertilizer regularly, you aid in keeping your lawn healthy, promoting new leaf growth and robust root development.
The beauty of fertilizer from a lawn care subscription service is you don’t have to guess about the fertilizer or how much to apply.
The company will send you the best product for your lawn and the correct product amount based on the lawn size (or will specify the amount to use), ensuring your lawn gets the type and amount of fertilizer it needs to thrive. This way, you don’t need to worry about over-fertilizing or under-fertilizing.
Weed Control
While fertilizer often steals the spotlight of a lawn care subscription service’s offerings, weed control is another essential part of most curated boxes. Unfortunately, weeds are a typical visitor of turf grasses, becoming an unsightly and unwelcome presence in the sea of grass.
If left unchecked, weeds can take over, stunting the growth of the grasses around them.
They compete with the grass for space, soil, nutrients, and water, leaving your grass without the essentials it needs to survive. So, weed control is a crucial part of lawn maintenance and care.
If your lawn needs weed control, your subscription service has you covered, as the boxes are usually customized to your lawn’s needs. The company will send you a weed control product to address the current weeds and keep future weedy visitors at bay.
Pest Control
Pesticides are another vital piece of the lawn care puzzle. Without pest control products, your lawn is susceptible to damage at the hands of various pests, including fungi, insects, rodents, and arachnids. The damage the pests do hinges on the type of pest, but common results include brownish patches, holes in the soil, and damage to the grass blades.
So, to keep pests at bay, many lawn care subscription services provide products designed to ward away these unwanted visitors. Some providers even offer more environmentally friendly pest control products that don’t contain concerning products like imidacloprid, bifenthrin, and trifluralin (this hinges on the provider).
Grass Seeds
While grass seeds in a lawn care subscription box might sound foreign, it’s a sensible and convenient addition. A healthy, thick lawn is unlikely to need overseeding, but if your lawn is suffering from bare patches or thin areas, overseeding can make a world of difference.
Some lawn care subscription services, like Sunday, offer a package with grass seed. They select the grass seed based on your grass type, eliminating the guesswork associated with the best overseeding combinations.
Application Implements
Products from lawn care subscription services usually come as a liquid or in granules. To apply the products, you’ll usually need an implement of some sort, either in the form of a hose attachment or spreader.
Many lawn care subscription boxes are complete with hose attachments. In some cases, the liquid pouch features a built-in hose attachment for quick and easy application. In others, the box comes with a hose attachment that connects the liquid pouch to your garden hose for a stress-free application.
If your subscription comes in granular form, you usually need a spreader. While many subscription boxes come with garden hose attachments, few include the spreader.
So, you’ll need to invest in a spreader from your local home improvement or garden center, which will usually cost around $75 (for a decent spreader).