Sunday Lawn Care Overview
Sunday Lawn Care promises two things: natural products that won't harm the environment and highly customized plans that require almost zero thought from you. I had the chance to put these claims to the test by trying out this one-year service on my own lawn. Two months in, and so far I am just as impressed as they said I would be.
Getting started with Sunday was as easy as putting my address into their website. From there, they were able to pull up a satellite image of my property and determine the size of my lawn. Using regional data, they put together my baseline plan that included my first shipment, which landed on my doorstep about a week later.
For someone who doesn't have a lot of time to put into caring for my lawn, Sunday could not have been easier to use. The first shipment included two liquid fertilizer treatments and a card that laid out the date range each should be applied for optimal performance. The kit also included two spray heads, a soil test that allows for further customization of future shipments, and a packet of wildflower seeds.
Like the company promises, both fertilizer treatments contained a short list of simple, easy to decipher ingredients. While these aren't technically organic fertilizers, they are made of safe, naturally derived ingredients. Neither one had any discernible smell, and I felt completely at ease letting my dogs and toddler run around on the lawn after I was done applying the day's treatment.
In addition to the customized annual lawn treatment plan, you can also add a la carte items to your order. These include things like grass seed, weed control products, and urine burn treatment.
Sunday is a relatively young company in the lawn care game. It was started by two brothers out of Boulder, Colorado who wanted to find a better way to treat residential lawns that didn't require the use of harmful pesticides and chemicals. They teamed up with Dr. Frank Rossi, who holds a Ph.D. in turf science and helps maintain the grass at Yankee Stadium, and launched Sunday Lawn Care.
The company boasts thousands of satisfied customers and claims to have diverted over 10,000 pounds of pesticides from being added to residential lawns in 2019 alone. Their product list contains sixteen lawn fertilizer treatments, two weed control sprays, and five seed mixes, including a grass-clover mix that helps support pollinators.
Sunday Lawn Care is a natural alternative to traditional yard care services and treatments. It requires less planning and work than caring for your lawn alone, and costs less than hired lawn services but with similar long-term results.
How It Performs
I was immediately impressed with how easy it was to set up my customized lawn care plan on the GetSunday website. But the ease of setup is only one small factor in determining a lawn care subscription's worth.
More important are how well the products perform, how easy they are to apply, and how much the service will cost you. Here are my experiences with each of these factors after two months of using the service. I will be updating this review throughout the rest of the year as I receive each subsequent shipment.
Lawn Health Performance
My first shipment of Sunday products included two liquid fertilizers:
- Iron Booster - A mix of urea, urea-triazone, and chelated iron that is meant to green up lawns quickly and encourage lush growth.
- Mighty Green - A high nitrogen, low phosphorus mix made of urea, urea-ammonia nitrate, urea-triazone, and muriate of potash that helps lawns green-up after winter.
The included instruction card indicated that the Iron Booster should be applied first with the Mighty Green added about a month later.
I prepared my lawn for fertilization by mowing the grass (the first mow of the season after a lot of unexpected snow early in the spring) and dethatching it with a rake. The morning after the Iron Booster was applied, I swear the lawn looked greener already. Even my front lawn, which has always struggled, looked like spring had sprung overnight!
Within about four days, the lawn was already long enough that it needed to be mowed again. That might have been a matter of a lot of moisture followed by a few sunny days, but I am willing to give the Iron Booster some credit given how slow growth normally is for my grass this time of year.
I noticed a similar explosion of growth after applying the Mighty Green a month later.
But the grass wasn't the only thing that seemed to be enjoying the sudden nutrient boost provided by these products. The dandelions also exploded shortly after applying the first round of fertilizers.
From reading other Sunday reviews and from my understanding of how the products work, this wasn't entirely surprising. Aside from the natural herbicide spot-treatments you can purchase separately, Sunday fertilizers do not target or kill weeds. Instead, these products work by supporting a healthy soil biome and providing lawns with exactly what they need to thrive during each season.
Over time, healthy grass living in healthy soil will crowd out weeds like dandelions and thistles, reducing the need for targeted weed treatments.
I am curious to see if this theory holds true. But I expect it will take a few more treatments before my neglected lawn reaches that degree of health. And even then, I doubt I will be able to make a true judgment call until this time next spring. Luckily, I am not one who really minds dandelions-in fact, I prefer to keep them around so the bees have something to feed on while my gardens are still waking up.
If weeds are a huge concern for you, Sunday Lawn Care probably won't provide the degree of weed management you desire. For that, you would have to turn to a chemical herbicide or apply the Sunday Dandelion Doom religiously.
But if you don't mind a few happy dandelions mixed in with your lush, healthy grass, then Sunday is worth a try.
Ease of Use
In terms of the Sunday products, using them is about as easy as using any other liquid fertilizer, with two notable (and happy) exceptions.
The first shipment comes with two spray heads that are to be kept and used for each additional shipment. They are easy enough to operate and screw right into the bags of liquid fertilizer provided. Like with any similar product, you will need a hose long enough to cover most of your lawn.
Where Sunday products appear to have a huge leg up is in the safety of their ingredients and the fact that most of them have no odor.
Liquid fertilizers are easy to apply because they don't require a spreader or any additional equipment that you wouldn't already have on hand. But they can be messy. Usually, when I apply fertilizers, I change into my paint clothes and put on a hat and mask to protect my face (and nose!). The two Sunday products I have tried so far had so little odor and are made with such benign ingredients that I didn't feel this was necessary.
In terms of getting set up with the yearly subscription, things were even easier.
As I mentioned above, all you have to do is enter your address, answer a few simple questions, and Sunday does the rest.
In addition to sending fertilizer with your first shipment, they also send a soil test kit so your customized plan can be further refined for your remaining shipments. Somehow, the collection bag didn't make it into my package, but Sunday sent an email soon after I received it to apologize and to instruct me to place the sample in a ziplock bag instead.
I received my results less than a week later. I am not sure they will change much about my future shipments, but, as an avid gardener, it was neat to see how my soil scored.
Beyond the basic setup and application, Sunday continues to simplify lawn care by giving you custom insights on current lawn conditions via your personal dashboard on their website. Here you can check watering needs, mowing recommendations, and weed germination data all personalized and delivered based on your local weather and climate. For someone who knows a lot more about growing vegetables and flowers than grass, I have found this feature extra helpful.
Price
What Sunday Lawn Care offers is a no-thinking-required year-long lawn care service plan. When you sign up for the subscription service, this is what you get. You can add items on a la cart or order single items without the service, but there is only one plan option to choose from.
Of course, this plan will be tailored to meet your lawn's needs, but the number of shipments will be determined by Sunday. Most regions will get four, but those with shorter growing seasons or longer shipping times may see fewer shipments.
I personally like the lack of choices because it plays nicely into the no-thinking-required aspect of Sunday. But it does mean that you will have very little control over the final price.
The company advertises that their plans start at $119 per year. My plan ended up being closer to $200. Since I live in the same state the company ships from, I have to assume this extra cost was a matter of what products I will be receiving based on what lawn requires in my particular climate.
Compared to traditional lawn services, this price is more than affordable. But keep in mind, it doesn't include any mowing, aeration, or other services that often come with hands-on lawn care service.
For me, $50 per season for quality, natural fertilizers tailored to my soil seems fair. Especially considering how easy it is to get set up and how little thought I have to put into it from that point forward. Plus, I get the benefit of continual lawn care insights throughout the year.
Sunday Lawn Care Alternatives
Sunday Lawn Care is a unique lawn care service in that it exists entirely online, with customized products shipped to your door for you to apply. Two years ago, if you wanted this kind of no-brainer service, Sunday would have been your only choice. Since then, though, more companies have popped up copying their business plan.
One of these do-it-yourself style subscriptions is Lawn Serv. This online lawn service also offers natural and organic fertilizers and sprays but with monthly deliveries instead of seasonal shipments. While this does cost more per year, you can expect more products, including weed and insect killers, included with the subscription price. Unlike Sunday, these products are not made by the company but are chosen from other retailers based on a standard for quality and safety.
If applying your own fertilizer treatments sounds like something you would rather not do, then a more traditional lawn care subscription may be a better option. Trugreen offers a long list of different subscription packages so you can pick the services and price that works best for you. All the work is completed by the Trugreen team so you don't have to worry about lifting a finger. The products used vary by subscription but few of them, if any, are natural. Many are considered toxic to pets and people, requiring a drying period after applications before the lawn can be safely enjoyed.
Shipments/service days
1 to 4 shipments, consisting of up to 12 nutrient pouches
7 to 10 shipments with 4 products per shipment
Average of 8 service days per year that include multiple applications and services
Natural products?
Yes, all created and manufactured by Sunday
Yes, if you select that option; all products are made by other retailers
No
Things to Consider Before Buying
Lawn care services can save you time while upping the curb appeal of your home. They are especially valuable for those with large yards or who lack the knowledge to keep their lawn looking its best throughout the year.
But picking any lawn service doesn't guarantee a good-looking yard or less hassle for you. To make sure you get the kind of service and the kind of results you want, you need to consider a number of things before picking your lawn care service. Things like:
- The amount of work you want to put in. Some services will do all the work for you, including mowing and aerating. Others, like Sunday, will do the thinking and planning but you will need to apply the products.
- How much help your lawn needs. For lawns in serious need, a lawn care service may be warranted. But for less extreme issues, like dead lawn that needs being revived, you may be able to do the work yourself for less money.
- Whether you want organic or chemical products. Some fertilizers are safe to use around children and pets and require no special precautions to apply. Others carry some risk to you and need to dry fully before you can use the lawn. Natural solutions are better for the soil and the planet but will cost a little more.
- Your own knowledge of lawn care. You can save money by buying fertilizer from the store and applying it yourself, but this will only come with expert-level results if you know what you are doing. You will need the right lawn maintenance plan for your area and knowledge of different products. If this is outside your depth, it is worth paying a little more for some guidance or for someone else to do the work.
Conclusion
Keeping your lawn looking great can take a lot of planning and a lot of work. If you want to reduce some of this burden, a lawn care service is your best option. And if you want the benefits of a traditional service without the price tag or chemicals, Sunday Lawn Care is a great choice.
With this service you get products customized to your lawn's needs delivered right to your door. You will have to apply them yourself, but Sunday will handle the thinking, the planning, and the timing to make things as easy as possible. Their products are natural and safe for use around the family, are better for the planet, and bring long-term results that rival those of more traditional, costly services.
To find out how much a Sunday yearly maintenance plan will cost you or to learn more about their product line, visit GetSunday today.