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How the lawn plan works
The quiz asks seven questions: what grass you have, where you live, roughly how big the lawn is, what’s going wrong, what equipment you own, how much you want to spend, and how much effort you’re willing to put in. Nothing gets sent anywhere unless you choose to email yourself the plan at the end, and that part is optional.
What comes back is a plan in order: the problem to fix first, the product that fixes it with the cost math shown, and the year-round program that keeps it from coming back. Every product it names is the same one recommended in the articles on this site, usually the generic version of what the big-box bag or the lawn service uses.
The three kinds of lawn owner
- The Minimalist wants the lawn to look fine with two or three passes a year and no sprayer.
- The Rationalist wants a clearly better lawn for bounded effort: six good decisions a year, one Saturday morning each.
- The Nut wants stripes, growth regulator schedules and fungicide rotations, and enjoys it.
None of the three is the wrong answer. Each one is the frugal choice for that person, and the quiz matches the plan to the one you pick.
The six programs behind it
Your plan points to one of six year-round programs, split by grass type and effort level. If you’d rather skip the quiz, go straight to yours:
- Warm-season (bermuda, zoysia, St. Augustine, centipede): Minimalist, Rationalist, Nut
- Cool-season (tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, ryegrass): Minimalist, Rationalist, Nut
Not sure which grass you have? Bermuda vs. zoysia and the zoysia cultivar guide cover the warm-season side, and Where Are You Now? helps you figure out how much work your lawn needs before you spend anything. All six programs are also on the lawn programs page.