We start with a soil test, not a sales pitch.

This is exactly what the walk-through determines, and it’s the first question we answer. When the foundation is sound, with workable soil, the right grass for the site, and adequate drainage, a treatment program can usually restore a struggling lawn without replacing any of it. When the original installation was poor, the variety doesn’t suit the site, or the decline has advanced too far, treatment can’t catch up, and fresh sod is the better investment.

Occasionally the correct answer is to leave the lawn alone for six weeks and reassess. That’s a legitimate recommendation, and one we’d rather give than sell you something you don’t need.

A soil-driven feeding plan, not a spray-and-go calendar. Every program starts with a full soil test, covering pH, base saturation, and organic matter, so each application has a defined purpose. From there: slow-release nitrogen for a steady feed, potassium for root strength and stress tolerance, chelated iron when pH is holding nutrients out of reach, mycorrhizal inoculants and biostimulants such as sea kelp and humic acid to build the soil biology, soil conditioner and compost to add organic matter to sand, the micronutrients the test calls for, core aeration to relieve compaction, and targeted feeding for the trees, shrubs, and palms that share the soil.

We observe the summer fertilizer blackout from June through September and time everything to Palm Beach County’s actual windows. Programs run six to eight visits a year, billed per visit rather than monthly. No two properties get an identical schedule, because no two soil tests come back the same.

Plenty — the restriction covers nitrogen and phosphorus, not everything else. From June 1 through September 30, county rule prohibits applying N and P to turf and landscape. Potassium is not restricted, and it happens to be both the nutrient our sandy soil leaches fastest and the one that drives root strength, drought tolerance, and disease resistance. So potassium becomes the backbone of the summer program, usually alongside chelated iron and micronutrients for color, and biostimulants for the soil.

The wet season is also the best window of the year for physical soil work, so this is when core aeration, soil conditioner, wetting agents, and close pest and disease monitoring do the most good. National programs tend to either break the rule or simply go quiet for four months. We do neither.

One local note: a handful of Palm Beach County cities — North Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and the Town of Palm Beach among them — enforce a stricter ordinance that extends the nitrogen and phosphorus restriction through October 31. If your property sits in one of those municipalities, we run the longer window and hold nitrogen until it lifts.

When a lawn has been fertilized and still looks tired, the cause is almost always pH, not nitrogen. South Florida soils tend to run alkaline, which chemically locks iron, manganese, and zinc away from the plant. The nutrients are present in the soil; the grass simply can’t access them.

Sandy ground compounds the problem, flushing much of what’s applied through the root zone before the plant can use it. The remedy is consistent: test the soil, correct the pH, and build organic matter with conditioner and biology. Only then does fertilizer perform as intended, which is what a treatment program is built to do.

Programs start at $149 per visit, most lawns require six to eight visits a year, and billing is per visit, with no monthly commitment. The exact cadence depends on your turf, your soil results, and the property’s needs. A shaded St. Augustine lawn and a full-sun Bermuda lawn don’t follow the same schedule.

What each visit includes, and why, is clear before anything is applied, because every application traces back to the soil test. No unexplained line items, and nothing applied simply to appear productive.

Most residential installations start around $2,400 for sites under roughly 1,500 square feet, soil preparation and installation included. The final figure depends on the size of the yard, the grass selected, and how much preparation the soil requires, which is why we confirm it at the walk-through rather than estimating over the phone.

We’d rather provide an accurate figure after seeing the site than one that changes on installation day. The walk-through is free, and it’s typically the most useful conversation a homeowner has about their yard.