4 Common DIY Lawn Care Mistakes (And Why You Should Hire Professional Lawn Care Instead)

In this DIY world, many homeowners are interested in independently tackling projects around the home. This includes DIY lawn care. If you have a green thumb or simply like working outside, many lawn care basics are doable around your property.

Of course, it’s important to avoid lawn care mistakes as they can sometimes be a big setback. Caring for a lawn may seem simple enough, but there’s more to it than people often realize.

Understanding some common lawn care mistakes can help you avoid them. According to Grant Osvalds, Director of Lawn Care, Plant Health Care, and Pest Defense, there are four areas where he sees DIY lawn care go awry most often: fertilization, mowing, weed control, and seeding.

In this article, we’ll cover the four big DIY lawn care mistakes we see:

1. Improper Fertilization
2. Weed Control Errors
3. Mowing Mistakes
4. Seeding at the Wrong Time

Understanding how these tasks can go wrong and why professional lawn care vs. DIY might make the most sense will help set you up for success.

#1: Improper Fertilization

According to Grant, some of the biggest DIY lawn care mistakes he sees involve improper fertilization.

“Often, these mistakes have to do with putting too much or too little fertilizer down,” Grant explains. “When you apply too much, you risk burning your lawn, which can leave a bare spot. But when you don’t put enough down, you might be just wasting your money.”

Grant says they’ve also had homeowners apply additional fertilizer even after a professional fertilization service has already been performed. He says it’s important to avoid doing this, as you run the risk of fertilizer burn.

“A lot of the lawn care products sold to homeowners have fertilizer thrown in and people don’t always realize this,” Grant adds. “For that reason, some people end up mistakenly adding more fertilizer without realizing they are.”

#2: Weed Control Errors

Similar lawn care mistakes can occur with DIY weed control efforts. Grant says that homeowners might overapply or use the wrong product.

“Sometimes they apply a non-selective herbicide that kills the surrounding grass instead of targeting a specific weed,” he adds. “Spraying at the wrong time can also lead to problems.”

It’s important to understand that getting rid of weeds with weed control products is more complex than just throwing down one type of product and hoping it will cover all weeds.

An effective weed control approach requires more than one type of weed control. After all, there are different weeds, and these different weeds have varying needs.

Many store-bought weed control products also have fertilizer added, so Grant says this is another scenario where over-fertilization can unknowingly occur.

#3: Mowing Mistakes

Mowing is another DIY lawn care task that many people tackle. While mowing is by no means rocket science, it is more complicated than people tend to realize.

Grant says people most often mow their lawns too short. Grass should be mowed no shorter than 3 to 3.5 inches, but Grant says sometimes homeowners go shorter, which can lead to yellowing of the lawn.

Mowing the lawn with dull blades is also a problem, he adds. It’s safe to say that most homeowners do not take the time to sharpen their blades, so they’re making jagged cuts to the grass, which can damage its health. This can also cause your lawn to yellow.

Another common mowing mistake is mowing infrequently. The homeowner will wait too long between mows and then need to make a dramatic cut. Unfortunately, this is quite traumatic to the lawn and can cause its health to suffer.

This can be another common reason for a yellowing lawn.

#4: Seeding at the Wrong Time

Finally, Grant says the fourth DIY lawn care mistake he frequently sees is seeding at the wrong time.

“We often have people throw down seeds in the spring but that’s not going to last through the summer,” he says. “We hate to see people waste money on grass seed.”

One reason seeding in the spring is discouraged is that it can impact your ability to control crabgrass.

If you’ve seeded in the spring, then you can’t put down crabgrass preventer for approximately 3 months afterward, and at that time, it will be too late to prevent crabgrass.

But the weather can also be a problem. While springtime weather might be okay for growing grass, the summer heat can be brutal on new growth. It can be incredibly challenging to establish brand-new grass once the weather heats up and drought conditions kick in.

Fall is truly the best time for seeding. We advise that seeding be performed along with professional lawn aeration.

Lawn aeration in Virginia is one of the best things you can do for your lawn's health. Because of the clay soil in Northern Virginia, lawn soil tends to get very compacted. When this occurs, water, oxygen, and nutrients cannot reach the grassroots, where they are needed.

However, during lawn aeration, a professional core aerator extracts small cores from the soil and leaves them there to break down and filter back into the earth. This helps to break down the compaction and allows your lawn to breathe.

DIY lawn care vs hiring a pro

One of the main reasons to avoid a DIY approach is the possibility of making lawn care mistakes. We hate to see homeowners waste time and money on a DIY lawn care plan that goes awry.

Besides subpar results and setbacks, you should also recognize that DIY lawn care can be taxing. It’s a lot of work to perform these services, and you likely have better ways to spend your time. On top of that, it’s also a relatively substantial investment. You need to buy the products and the equipment to apply them.

When you factor in having to try a variety of products to find the right ones, the costs can really start to add up.

Instead, you could have just hired a professional lawn care service to handle it all for you.

Not only will a pro get the best possible results (thanks to superior products and skill), but they’ll save you from the headaches of having to figure any of this out and the time of having to perform the work yourself. After all, you’re busy, and it’s not like you have endless free time to perform lawn maintenance.

Choosing Lawn Care in Arlington and Alexandria, VA

In the end, the choice is yours. It’s wise of you to do your research before deciding between DIY lawn care and hiring a pro.

Chances are, you’ve realized it may not be worth the headaches or hassles of DIY lawn care. You’re starting to recognize that when you invest in a professional lawn care service, you also invest in peace of mind—and that’s an incredibly valuable asset.

After all, not only will you have a pro helping you achieve the desired results, but that pro will also be looking for problems (such as pests or diseases) that could arise and wreak even more havoc on your lawn. But when you work with a pro, you can hand those worries over to them to address.

The key is to make a wise choice regarding a lawn care pro.

Of course, making that choice is easier said than done. You want to make sure that you choose a company that delivers exceptional results and offers the best possible customer service. You may have worked with a company offering professional lawn care in Northern Virginia in the past and been unhappy with that experience. Or you may have heard some horror stories from other homeowners.

We have written an entire article on choosing a lawn care company that provides some things to look out for as you search.

We have also written an article on questions that you can ask as you search for lawn care services.

At the end of the day, your lawn care company should be making things easy and convenient for you.

At Kingstowne Lawn & Landscape, we can handle your lawn care services, such as fertilization, weed control, and seeding. We can also take over your mowing if you desire.

When you contract our lawn care services, you can return to enjoying your property without worrying about lawn care mistakes.

If you want to feel confident that your lawn is getting everything it needs from a lawn care company in Alexandria, Arlington, and Springfield, VA, request your quote, choose from 3 lawn care program options, and relax as you get the royal treatment.