DIY Tips
DIY lawn care that actually works.
If you're doing the work yourself, here's what we'd tell a friend over coffee. None of it requires fancy equipment. All of it actually moves the needle.
- 01
Vary your mowing direction
Grass leans in the direction you cut it. Same direction every week and it'll lay flat and read uneven. Alternate north-south, east-west, and diagonals so it stands up.
- 02
Walk the lawn before you mow
Two minutes picking up rocks, sticks, and dog toys saves you a snapped blade or a broken window. Mowers throw debris faster than you'd guess.
- 03
Get the root, not just the leaf
When you pull a weed and the leafy part snaps off at the soil, you've done nothing. Use a V-shaped weeder, get under the taproot, and lift the whole plant out.
- 04
Slow-release fertilizer wins
Quick-release nitrogen looks great for two weeks then fades. Slow-release granular feeds the lawn for six to eight, which is why pros use it. Read the bag, hit the rate, water it in.
- 05
Use the right pruning tool for the branch
Hand pruners for under half-inch wood. Loppers for half to one inch. A handsaw above that. Sharpen them, cut just above a bud or branch collar, and don't 'top' a tree.
- 06
Edge from a fixed reference
Run a string line or measure off the curb so the edge stays straight. Re-cut weekly during growing season. Pull the grass plug out, don't just chop it.
- 07
Plug aerate, don't spike aerate
Plug aerators pull cores roughly 0.75 inches across, 3 inches deep, on 3-inch spacing. Spike machines just compact the soil further. Aerate when the lawn is actively growing.
- 08
Bag heavy leaf loads
A mulching mower handles light leaf litter, but a thick mat smothers the grass. Bag the heavy drops in November or rake them out before the snow.