Are annual lawn care programs worth the money? This is an interesting question. The unfortunate truth is that the answer is entirely subjective. This answer can depend on what you want out of your lawn, how little you like to work outside, and your budget.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?
If you want a nice looking lawn that is well-maintained and edged nicely, sure, a lawn care program may be right for you. However, if you like working outside and being active, perhaps you could do the work yourself and have almost equal results as your lawn care program would have. So it really comes down to what you want and what you are willing to do on your own.

DO YOU LIKE TO WORK OUTSIDE?
This is the question, isn't it. If you don't like to work outside, or feel certain that you would fail in your lawn-care endeavors, you may want to think about paying for the program. Thus, you would be able to walk with pride on your well-tended lawn and that can give one satisfaction in one's home.

WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET?
Lawn care programs are usually quite expensive. I had to hire one for a year's work and it ran me just under $500. This was in central Utah, where costs really are not too awful. So what can you afford? How much is having a lovely lawn worth to you? If you can't stomach paying that kind of money on your lawn, you end up with two options: Let your lawn fend for itself against attacking dandelions and withering heat, or Do it yourself!

My opinion, after considering these questions many years ago, was that I did not want to pay money for somebody else to take care of my lawn. My budget and conscience wouldn't allow it! So I did it myself. And I found satisfaction and a growing love for the land. In fact, the next year I planted and maintained 200 square feet sized vegetable garden! So I say do it yourself. On the other hand, maybe this is out of the question, so you might need to go with the lawn care program.

Another thing to consider as you ponder this deep issue is whether you trust a lawn-care company to not use a bunch of imbalanced and harmful chemicals on your lawn and dirt. In my opinion, there are far too few of these truly Green' companies that make the commitment to avoid chemicals.

As a final note, if you are a landlord whose property has a lawn, you might want to seriously consider paying the price for good lawn care. My experience has taught me that most tenants are too busy paying the rent to care for a lawn for which they feel no ownership.

Learn more about this author, Jared Garrett.
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