Do it yourself fertilizer application or national chain service?

[motoman]

Today I am spreading iron sulfate made in Mo. Hope it will knock out the moss. Then another 800 lbs of lime (calcium carbonate) trade name Calpril. The lawn pro is coming back to rip up the front 1/3 acre which was weeds. I felt for the guys who soaked that area with Roundup ( I fought doing this for 3 years). The stench was almost nauseating for a couple days. The backpack sprayer I used to use for Cross Bow put out a fine mist. These guys saturated the ground. Many people hate Montsanto . This week someone said Roundup is carcinogenic. If so the guys should wear organic cartridge masks . I wanted to spread clear plastic sheet and let the sun kill the weeks, but pricing was prohibitive and keeping the stuff in place seemed impossible. :confused2:

 

[Goldshot]

Over the years I have done both; fertilized/conditioned my own lawn and used various lawn service options. Generally I found that the big, chain companies did a great job and were reasonably priced. Like someone else here said, I found the cost was about equal to that of doing it myself, maybe less. At one time in New Jersey I had a great independent lawn maintenance guy. He was a little more expensive but did an overall better job than the previous chain company. This guy actually talked with me about what he was going to put on my lawn unlike the big company guy who I rarely saw.

Now with a much bigger "lawn" and lots of time I enjoy doing it all myself.