Villages is expanding leaps and bounds.
Lawn companies can't keep up see any help wanted signs lately business are struggling for help
Not going to mention any names but my lawn company went to every other week mowing
My guess is they are stretched so thin trying to cover this expansion
In the long run my lawn looks pretty good till around day 11

Yes, lots of demand, not enough supply - sad.

Lawn care yourself
 

what do you do if the lawn gets a disease or bug problem?

I didn't retire to Florida to mow my own lawn. So now I'm retired to Florida and still mow my own lawn.

I think part of the reason I could afford to retire to Florida is that I've always been too cheap to pay others to do things I'm perfectly capable of doing myself. The first week after we moved in, I called the guy who had been doing my lawn (as well as my neighbor's lawns) to ask how much he wanted to continue the service. $50/week to mow this postage stamp. Heck, the road drainage ditch at my old place was twice the size of this lawn!

I did the math in my head (if it's big round numbers, I can still do that) and realized it would take about two months to pay for the hardware to mow it myself.

So I picked up an electric self-propelled plastic mower at Lowes that cost more than the 4-wheel-drive, Honda-powered Husqevarna push mower I used to mow that ditch with. It didn't look substantial enough to shave with, but it had the advantage of folding up to fit in my new downsized garage, and didn't need gasoline. And it worked amazingly well. So I bought a matching string trimmer and hedge trimmer that can use the same batteries -- and was equally amazed that they worked, too.

It takes about 45 minutes to do the deed. That's an hour and 15 minutes less than it used to take to mow my Texas place. I do a better job than the lawn guy and I don't have to wait until mowing day when we get a bunch of rain. And it's not like I don't have 45 minutes to spare in a week of Florida retirement. I just skip one nap.

The neighbors all think I'm nuts. Same as Texas.

Showtime Landscaping for Mowing and Trimming.....Bill Law.....(352) 303-1334. GreenSmith for Treatment of Lawn and Plants.....Hoke Smith.....(352) 303-0205

Lawn services are hired only to be fired. Service usually starts out great and goes downhill as time goes by

My experience is the same with landscaping. I was so impressed with what my landscaper did last time, I’m redoing it. Neighbors look at me a little funny when they see me under the tree pulling up grass roots, and the lousy plastic bag with logo on it that the tree grew into, so must have been put in when home was built. The kind of plastic birds choke on. Then cutting and putting down proper landscape cloth with their huge staples, then the power washed edging rocks not cleaned since the home was built, then the rock mulch…. Not complaining really, I needed the exercise anyways. Same landscaper will not be hired again.

Can’t recommend a lawn care company as the one who was working on my lawn went bankrupt. Employees caught Covid. He couldn’t replace them and make it work economically. Now I need a new company so I looked around to see which neighbor has best looking lawn and then spied on the lawn crew who came to do that lawn. Then asked if they could take me on too.

I have lived here since March of 1997 and the answer to question is...even when you follow all their rules, and maintain your sprinkler system, there ain't no such lawn company.

I have tried them all from the independent, one man operation to the company that charges an arm and leg and still cannot produce a decent looking lawn. I even replaced the sod on my entire 1/2 acre lot and after two years I had a half acre of weeds.

They all start out guaranteeing a great looking lawn and end up with excuses why the problem is either the extreme weather or my fault.

Not enough water, too much water, cutting the lawn too high, cutting the lawn to low, too much rain, not enough rain, sprinkler system not covering the lawn properly etc, etc, etc. I believe they all use the same book of excuses.

I think you are right

Lawn care
 

Would you be willing to share the information on the people you use? I can't do the job (severe bad back) and my wife has enough to do already. I would greatly appreciate whatever you can provide. Joe Bosch aka hubblecat

We are currently using Fertigator and are not happy with them. We are still trying to find someone to do it right.

I am thinking we won't find anyone here. It seems like a BIG opportunity for some enterprising young person to make a killing here. Lots of old people here that would love someone that took pride in their work.