Perspective on Perspectives – Lawn Care Service

The way we see the world affects our position within it.

It’s taken a while, with a couple false starts, but I’m finally found the best lawn care service provider in our area. They got out of their way to be accommodating to our schedule. They fertilize the way I prefer to have it done (twice a year at most), they aerate and the mow every week. They even work around our weekend events so that if we’re having people over for a party on Saturday the lawn will be mowed on Wednesday so there aren’t a lot of extra grass clippings for the event.

Rachel loves watching them work, seeing the mower go back and forth. The lawn technician (I love the fancy industry names) will even wave each time he goes by. She eats it all up. This service is so good even their spouse and kid will sometimes come out and sit on the porch to talk and watch.

They’re even relatively inexpensive. I do need to provide all of the equipment and gas, as well as fertilizer and seed when they spread. It’s a small price to pay for the exceptional service we receive. The grass is always cut the way I’d like (now that’s attention to detail) and there are often times we’ll even welcome the technician in for some sweet tea or soda afterward.

The way we see the world affects our position within it.

Two years ago we had the same lawn care service, and it wasn’t nearly as good. They had to use our push mower for the whole yard (and it wasn’t self-propelled), so maybe that was part of it. The lawn didn’t get mowed as often, and we never had the fertilizing/seeding/aerating done. You just knew that our “technician” wasn’t incredibly happy to be out there on hot summer days mowing my lawn. He’d much rather be sitting inside, sipping some tea and watching the world go by.

We even switched to a different lawn service for one summer, having a teenager down the street mow (It helped that our lawn mower died at the beginning of the summer). He was definitely more expensive, and never edged the grass by the fence.

So, last year we switched back, and it’s as though we’re working with a completely different service, even though we have the same two lawn technicians coming out to mow each week. I’m so happy we switched back.

This year we called a bunch of other companies, to check on fertilizing, seeding and aerating. They were pretty expensive, so we decided to stick with our current plan and avoid those “expensive” lawn care providers; though I’m sure they were very capable.

Unfortunately I can’t really recommend this service. So far as I know, they only do very select lawns. You have to know somebody who knows somebody to even talk to these guys about lawn care. Even then it’s like pulling teeth to convince them to mow your yard. That’s mainly because they mow only as a side business, so they just don’t have time to service too many lawns. When I think about it, I’m pretty sure they just do our lawn, helping some other people every now and then. Crazy business model I know, but it keeps me coming back to them!

The way we see the world affects our position within it.

My outlook on mowing the lawn used to be one of disdain and upset that it would take time away from family or friends. Now I actually care about the lawn, that it looks nice and green, and that it takes very little work to make that actually happen.

Scott’s, Washington checkbook and Consumer Reports have given me great advice on how to really care for the lawn. It’s really pretty easy to do.

As I continue to scale back wherever I can, I’ve been really focusing on my lawn. It feels good to watch it grow and know that it is healthy. Taking care of my lawn is now a joy simply because my outlook on the process has changed. It’s stopped being a chore and has become something to enjoy.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 8:49 PM