"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Javier" wrote:

Next year I will be taking care of the lawn rather than using a local
lawn services, I simply can't afford it any more. Besides my lawn
mower, edge trimmer and leaf blower are there any other tools that I
need in order to keep my lawn healthy? I leave in North Eastern, NJ.

Some good hand weeding tools. And, don't be one of those people who chases
one leaf around the yard for 3 hours with the blower, thereby making your
neighbors want to put a bullet in your head. You could replace the silly
thing with a good quality push broom.

What makes you think the blower is going to be used for leaves... this
is about lawns... there's no leaf blowing during the entire grass
growing season... and perhaps the OP has no trees dropping leaves, or
would prefer a rake, so don't assume. The blower is primarilly used
to blow grass clippings from edging and string trimming... for the
typical surburban lawn that's like a five minute blow job..

If the OP has the typical surburban lawn of about an acre or less it's
not possible to save money doing it yourself... can do it for
enjoyment and exercize but it's not possible to save a dime... and
then there's the time element, what takes the do-it-yourselfer the
better part of a day the lawn service will do in under 40 minutes, and
they'll do a far better job because they are just better at it plus
they use top of the line professional equipment... no way your dinky
Home Depot lawn equipment can compete with expensive commercial
machinery. And you need an edger and broadcaster too. Not only do
those machines need maintenance and repairs they need fuel, and a
storage facility, a good sized facility, like another garage. About
the only area where one can save a few pennies (maybe) is on the
chemicals... but then you need to haul them, store them, and spread
them... the lawn service pays less than half what you'll pay for
chemicals. The lawn service also takes away the grass clippings, may
not seem a biggie but in many surbuban municipalities the trash
collectors will not take lawn clippings, you need haul it yourself and
to pay to dump it. The clippings is what made me turn to a lawn
service at my last house, the town in its wisdom decided not to take
clippings with the trash. At first I resisted, but once I engaged the
service I realized how much less it cost than doing it myself... AND I
DIDN"T HAVE TO DO IT!

I had 1/2 acre, during the entire 14 years they only raised their
price once, from $25/wk to $30/wk. They were extremely reliable,
showed up every Thursday without fail, even in the rain.

Now that I'm retired I mow ten acres. I have to do it myself, there's
no lawn service around here that will mow that much lawn, certainly
not for a price I'm willing to pay. Of course if I grew hay I could
get my lawn done for free. But hay is ugly, and dirty.