Most Liked Positive Review

Does what it says... when properly applied

When we bought our home 13.5 years ago, our entire yard was nothing but weeds (crabgrass, quackgrass, dandelions, clover, chickweed and so many more... if it was possible in Minnesota we had it in our yard). I had asked many people for advise on how to go from this awful "yard" to a beautiful lawn (...I grew up having had sod and learning from a young age that it takes work to maintain a beautiful lawn) and was told time and time again that my yard was a lost cause and I needed to have it dug out, treated, have good black dirt brought in and to have sod laid. This was not an option. A few years in (we had lived here 4 years at the point I had time to put work into the yard... during the first few years, my goal was to not make it worse) when my kids were a little older, I started to put some major work into my yard. I started by working on the soil that we had and by literally hand pulling the weeds... daily and for hours each day. I was seeding with Scott's Kentucky bluegrass mix in both spring and fall and fertilizing three times from spring to fall (using season appropriate fertilizer). Each year, there was marked improvement in my yard. Every year my neighbors would comment that they saw the improvement in my yard. Three years ago, I switched to a certified sod quality seed and continued to hand pull weeds and fertilize (only used Scott's fertilizer based on the recommendation for a particular time of year... it's also the only brand of fertilizer my dad ever used when I was growing up) while I continued to supplement the soil based on the area we live in (we have sandy soil for the most part, but there had been black dirt out down originally). Two years ago, I could actually say I have a lawn and not just a yard. There were far fewer weeds in my yard (when I say far fewer, there was more than 95% less weeds and I had gone from spending hours daily hand pulling weeds to being able to only weed the yard once a week). Last spring, I signed up for Scott's lawn program where they ask about your yard, seed used, condition and help you determine the size of your yard and they build a fertilizer plan for you and send it automatically based on your region and tell you when to apply it. I continued to use the sod quality certified midnight Kentucky bluegrass I had been using and last spring, summer and fall, with the exception of 2 "problem" areas that I had to go out a few times a week and hand pull quack grass, I only had to hand pull weeds a total of 4 times the entire season for the remainder of the yard (I had clover in two areas that crept over from the neighbor in two places, creeping Charlie in those areas as well from the same neighbor and I had a total of 8 dandelions the entire summer... the clover and creeping Charlie were just in the spring and once pulled and properly fertilized did not return). My lawn had become so healthy that my neighbors began to "copy" my seeding and fertilizing schedule, even my mowing schedule) and my neighbors were using Scott's green max thinking that was how I was getting the beautiful color of my lawn (none asked what I was using or how I had pulled off what everyone thought was impossible, had they asked I would have happily shared what I had used). My lawn was so perfect last year that even our regular UPS, fedex and Amazon drivers were commenting on my lawn! I definitely put hard work into my lawn when most said it was a lost cause and couldn't be turned around. I also have 3 rescue dogs who definitely are hard in the lawn and with the Scott's program (and excellent seed), I defied the odds and went from an eyesore of a yard to a lush deep green lawn that my neighbors envy and most would think I have sod and that it wasn't seeded. Sure, there were far less labor intensive, less time consuming ways to pull off what I pulled off, but the Scott's program definitely makes it easier and takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. The key really is following the directions on how to fertilize. If you don't follow the directions, you will "burn" your yard and possibly cause more damage. If you follow the directions provided by Scott's, you'll get great results... and not just the directions on the bag but the recommendations on when it's best to use each product for your region. I've tried other brands of fertilizer out there (based solely on what I could afford at the time) and Scott's by far puts out products that are far superior that give far better, longer lasting results. Using the Scott's program guarantees that you have the correct products delivered to your door at the correct time to use them (usually arriving a week or two before you would want to put them down). The price of the fertilizer is also slightly cheaper than buying it at the store (and considering most people who fertilize their yards use the same products you'll be looking for at the same time, it's sometimes hard to find what you're after). I definitely recommend Scott's fertilizers and the Scott's program.