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When it comes to lawn care, the products you choose have a direct bearing on the outcome of your efforts. There’s a lot of guesswork involved in yard care, which can be discouraging and frustrating if the desired results aren’t quickly apparent.
Sunday is a DIY lawn care subscription service that aims to take the mystery out of guessing at what your yard needs. After a soil test and a short quiz, customers are told exactly what they need to buy and when they need to apply Sunday products: it’s as simple as following a schedule. And when in doubt, Sunday customer service is there to help. Sunday is so simple to use, it’s a top choice among the best DIY lawn care care programs and subscriptions.
Our tester tried the Sunday lawn care service a few times and loved it. But she lives in the Midwest, and we were curious to know how Sunday fared in different areas across the country.
- Read the BobVila.com Sunday lawn care review.
For this reason, we recruited five BobVila.com editors to try it out for themselves—and the results speak volumes.
DIY Lawn Care. Simplified.
Bob Vila has partnered with Sunday to get your lawn exactly what it needs to thrive. Free Lawn Analysis“Using Sunday products has given us the lush, deep green grass we’ve been striving to achieve with other products for 10 years.”
Name, position: Becky Helzer, Lead Copy Editor
State: Colorado
Climate: Zone 5 (mild, semiarid, climate; low humidity, hot and dry in the summer, cold but not extreme in the winter, and around 300 days of sunshine per year)
Light conditions: Direct sun on the lawn areas in both front and back yard with some areas of shadiness
Soil moisture: Yard is watered daily, 20 minutes per zone, starting typically mid-to-late April
Known lawn issues: Bare spots, mostly due to dog urine
Soil quality: A, according to Sunday, with a high clay content
Plan name: Lawn & Paws Plan
Products:
- New Starter Tools Kit
- Soil Test Kit
- Black-Eyed Susan Seed Packet (2)
- Lawn Strong (2)
- Dandelion Doom Herbicide Concentrate Refill (3)
- Sunday Herbicide Pouch + Sprayer (1)
- Pet Lawn Grass Seed (3)
- Pet Patch (1)
What Sunday said about my lawn: Sunday provided an analysis of our lawn, saying our soil is basically an even mixture of clay, silt, and sand. It’s high in organic matter and has a balanced pH. Our soil fertility and nutrient levels both received an “A” grade from Sunday.
My Honest Sunday Review and Rating: 5/5 stars
Our lawn is basically in good shape. It has a few bare spots and is slow to green in the spring, and we’ve always wished it were greener, less patchy, and more lush. However, going to the home improvement store and having to guess at which products are going to make the grass look its best is always a chore. Are we choosing the right product? Does the employee really have an understanding of what our lawn needs? Are we going to spend money treating a problem we don’t have?
We were happy to give Sunday a try, and we found that it’s different from any type of lawn treatment we’ve used in the past. Beyond being pet-friendly and surprisingly easy to use, the products are compact and packaged in the exact amounts needed for our yard.
Our box of Sunday lawn care arrived well in advance of when we’d need to use it, giving us plenty of time to test the soil, send it in for analysis, and become familiar with how to apply the products. The instructions were clear and easy to follow, and we signed up for notifications so we’d know precisely when it was time to apply the products.
Because we have dogs, we’ve never applied any type of fertilizer to our backyard before, but we ordered the pet plan to address some of our backyard’s particular issues. The product is pet-safe and easy to use, only requiring us to attach the pouch to the garden house and spray it on.
Within less than a month of applying the products, we noticed a significant greening of the lawn. There was a definite contrast between our grass and the grass of our neighbors; ours was a vibrant, deep green, whereas the neighbors’ grass was greening up, but not nearly to the degree of ours. We’re starting to see new grass emerge in the areas where we overseeded, and the lawn in the backyard in particular is healthier and thicker than it’s been in the past.
We were honestly a little skeptical about using Sunday products, in part because of the small pouch sizes relative to our large lawn. However, the products we received were exactly the right quantities for our yard, and they were so easy to use that even someone who has never attempted a DIY lawn care program before is likely to have success.
Since Sunday is pet-friendly and has no harmful chemicals, we weren’t sure how effective it would be, but the green grass speaks for itself: Sunday works. Using Sunday products has given us the lush, deep green grass we’ve been striving to achieve with other products for 10 years. The products make taking care of your own yard much cheaper than hiring a service (something we did last year), and they’re not at all intimidating to use, thanks to clear instructions. Using Sunday also removes the concern that you’re going to use the wrong product and burn your grass or spend money on treatments that don’t address your lawn’s specific needs.
The one thing I’d call out is that we were sent three packages of Dandelion Doom Herbicide Concentrate Refill as part of our plan. We don’t need dandelion control, and opting out of receiving it could have saved us some money on the program and been less wasteful. However, we do battle yellow nutsedge, which requires a very specific product, and we’d love to try a solution from Sunday for that if they ever develop one.
“I had given up on filling in dead patches caused by dog urine for 4 years until Sunday.”
Name, position: Catherine Hiles, Senior Editor
State: Ohio
Climate: Zone 6 (hot and humid summers, relatively cold winters)
Light condition: Direct sun in most of the front and back yard with some shady areas
Soil moisture: Lawn gets all its moisture from rain; no sprinklers and I don’t water my lawn
Known lawn issues: Bare spots caused by dog urine and high foot traffic
Soil quality: A, according to Sunday, with high silt content
Plan name: Lawn & Paws Plan
Products:
- Iron Boost (2)
- Pet Lawn Grass Seed (3)
- Mighty Green (2)
- Pet Patch (1)
- Dandelion Doom Herbicide Concentrate Refill (3)
- Purple Coneflower Seed Packet (2)
- Sunday Herbicide Pouch + Sprayer (1)
- Soil Test Kit (1)
What Sunday said about my lawn: Sunday’s analysis of my lawn gave it an A grade for fertility, nutrients, and soil salt. The soil sample showed high silt content and lower levels of sand and clay, which was surprising to me; I was under the impression that the soil had a higher clay content.
My Honest Sunday Review and Rating: 4/5 stars
I have two large dogs and two young children, which means my lawn was looking a little worse for wear coming out of the cold season. To help mend some of the damage caused by dog urine and heavy foot traffic, I wanted a plan that would keep my yard safe for my kids and dogs to play in. After I completed the Lawn Analysis on Sunday’s website, I chose the Lawn & Paws Plan to try and get my lawn in better shape for the summer.
The website told me when to use each product and provided video tutorials that I watched to make sure I was doing everything correctly. To apply the iron supplement, I attached the pouch to my hose using the provided sprayer and simply had to spray the product all over my lawn. Applying the first pouch went well, but the second one somehow didn’t attach to the hose properly, which meant I was spraying plain water on my grass for at least 10 minutes. I’d advise anyone using these products to double-check that their pouches attach correctly to avoid this issue.
A few weeks later, I applied the Pet Lawn Grass Seed all over the yard. Again, the process of applying it was easy, though labor-intensive. Sunday didn’t provide a seed spreader, so I used one I already had. It took me about an hour to cover my lawn with the seed, and I used most of the three bags provided.
The seeds began to germinate quickly and have already begun filling in the bare patches, which is a pleasant development. After using Sunday, my grass looks much thicker and more lush than usual and is more even in color with decreased weed growth. The lawn is looking less patchy in most places as well, including the dog spots, thanks to the Pet Lawn Grass Seed. Overall, my lawn looks so much healthier than usual and even blends in better with my neighbors’ professionally treated lawns.
I had given up on filling in dead patches caused by dog urine for 4 years until Sunday, so I’d definitely recommend this subscription to anyone who wants to maintain their lawn without putting in hours of work every week. I am looking forward to seeing how my lawn looks throughout the summer as I continue to use Sunday products.
“The end results of the first recommended batch of treatment actually had negative effects on our lawn.”
Name, position: Paul Rankin, Editor
State: Florida
Climate: Zone 10A (humid subtropical)
Light condition: Most of the lawn is in full Florida sunlight
Soil moisture: We typically water 1 to 1.5 inches a week; we watered about 1.5 inches a week during the test period (twice a week for about 75 minutes a zone)
Known lawn issues: Acidic soil, high sand content
Soil quality: Fertility grade: C, Nutrient grade: C, Soil salt grade: A
Plan name: Ultimate Lawn and Garden Plan
Products:
- Iron Boost (2)
- WonderFert All-Purpose Garden Fertilizer
- Veggie & Tomato Organic Garden Nutrients
What Sunday said about my lawn: My soil test came back with a grade of C for fertility and nutrients, but a grade of A for soil salt. There were low levels of phosphorus and potassium (macronutrients), both of which are important for cellular processes and stress endurance. Happily, there were good levels of most micronutrients, with just two out of eight that were lacking: iron and copper. Iron is great for deep green grass while also helping prevent weeds and diseases, and copper is important for photosynthesis.
My Honest Sunday Review and Rating: 2/5 stars
The soil test results were genuinely interesting—it’s great to have accurate knowledge of what your soil is made of. This can help target strengths and weaknesses and make planning more simple for the lawn and garden. Our first batch of treatment for the lawn, however the iron boost seemed to have little to zero effect on our lawn. It might have even made it look worse, which was quite disappointing. We’re unsure if the next batch of treatments would make any difference, but since all we had for the first 3 months were two pouches of iron boost, it’s not something I’d recommend or want to continue using in the future.
We did receive additional gardening products with our first delivery, which we found to be a nice bonus. Since we have a lot of variation in the vegetable garden, the Veggie & Tomato Organic Garden Nutrients proved to be a great benefit. Soon after we applied this product, the vegetables seemed to get a boost from it. This was a welcome surprise, since we had just transplanted a lot of our seed starter veggies to pots. On the contrary, the WonderFert All-Purpose Garden Fertilizer for use in the flower gardens around the property appeared to contribute very little toward growing healthy, flowering plants. In some cases, the liquid fertilizer appeared to cause yellowing at the base of some of the shrubs, which was concerning. This has cleared up after 3 months of observation, but it did not appear to be the correct solution for the flower gardens, despite the instructions indicating so.
Overall, I was disappointed with this product. While the initial packaging incited excitement to shore up the lawn, the application did not appear to do much of anything. The lawn actually became more brown and less full after we applied Sunday’s products, causing weeds to continue to encroach on our St. Augustine grass. Despite the fact that we indicated the lawn size was roughly 8,000 square feet, it did not seem as if Sunday shipped enough product to cover the lawn thoroughly (we had enough only for about 7,000 square feet). This may have led to us applying the incorrect concentration. Additionally, as someone who has no experience applying liquid-based fertilizer, I found the instructions to be incredibly vague and not detailed enough to for helping a first-timer properly apply the product. The flower gardens also seemed to have virtually no improvement from the products provided, and in some cases looked far worse.
Something as complicated as lawn care requires more time to fully evaluate. However, since the end results of the first recommended batch of treatment actually had negative effects on our lawn, I will not be continuing use of Sunday’s products. It might be better suited for other types of lawns or gardens, or perhaps for other climates.
“I was so impressed with the Weed Warrior spot treatment that I bought the concentrated pouches to weed large areas.”
Name, position: Daryna Tobey, Deputy Editor
State: New York
Climate: Zone 7B (humid subtropical, with approximately 49 inches of rainfall per year and cold, wet winters)
Light conditions: Most of the yard is exposed to sun. Areas in the front yard under crab apple trees are bare because they are shaded and on a slope.
Soil moisture: Adequate; my region gets almost 50 inches of rain per year.
Known lawn issues: Lots of weeds, and a number of patchy or bare spots. Our front yard is rocky, and thus has a fair amount of moss and lichens.
Soil quality: Fertility grade: A, Nutrient grade: A, Soil salt grade: A
Plan name: Ultimate Lawn & Garden
Products:
- FREE Purple Coneflower Seed Packet
- New Starter Tools Kit
- Soil Test Kit
- Active Lawn (3)
- WonderFert Liquid Garden Fertilizer
- Weed Warrior Herbicide Spot Treatment (2)
- Sunday Hose End Garden Sprayer
- Flower & Rose Organic Garden Fertilizer
- Veggie & Tomato Organic Garden Nutrients
What Sunday said about my lawn: My soil is in pretty good shape, scoring A’s on nutrients, fertility, and soil salts. My yard also has adequate or high levels of macronutrients such as calcium, zinc, magnesium, and sulfur.
My Honest Sunday Review and Rating: 3.5/5 stars
There’s a lot to like about the Sunday online experience! The company uses local climate and property data to streamline customer signup: When you create an account and input your address, your property’s estimated lot size autopopulates, as do local weather and presumed soil conditions. Then Sunday’s lawn questionnaire addresses the issues you’d expect: Do you have pets? (None that go outside.) How weedy is your lawn? (It’s basically all weeds.) Do you have a flower or vegetable garden? (Yes and yes.)
Sunday’s analysis determined that I required the Ultimate Lawn & Garden plan, which sounded like it might actually save my patchy, weed-filled yard. After comparing notes with my colleagues, I found that I was one of the only ones who didn’t get grass seed as part of their plan. I found that strange, considering that I had indicated that my yard had bare spots, but I decided to just go with what Sunday would send, still wondering how the nutrients could make grass spontaneously grow from bare, muddy spots in my lawn.
When I received my first Sunday delivery, I realized that the two Weed Warrior treatments I received were in ready-to-use, trigger-spray bottles. I’m not sure why Sunday sent me trigger-spray bottles, given that I had indicated that most of my ⅓-acre lawn was covered with weeds. That’s a lot of hand spraying! And Weed Warrior is a nonspecific, OMRI-certified herbicidal soap. On the one hand, the weed-killing product prescribed certainly suits my natural, organic bent. But spraying a nonspecific weed killer on my weedy lawn will kill what grass I have too—right?
On April 10, I applied concentrated pouches of Active Lawn to my yard, and the application couldn’t have been easier. The pouches attach to a garden hose, which makes for easy spraying and even distribution. Over a month later, my lawn got very green and showed nice growth, though much of the verdant lawn was indeed weeds. The patchy spots were still patchy.
Though I was, at first, puzzled about what to do with the Weed Warrior, I quickly put them to good use. I reached out to Sunday’s customer service by text to confirm that the herbicidal soap wouldn’t harm berry bushes and hydrangeas. Then, I sprayed Weed Warrior on mulched beds around my yard.
Only a few hours later, the weeds had wilted and turned yellow, and my flowers and berries are still thriving. I have since bought the Weed Warrior concentrate two-pack, which you pour into Sunday’s plastic packaging, add water to the fill line, and distribute via the battery-powered Powerhouse wand sprayer. The sprayer made covering a large area so easy. I easily tackled an approximately 12-foot-by-18-foot mulched area (that formerly housed my kids’ swingset) in less than an hour. I sprayed the remainder of the bag on my patio and walkway and, as they had before, the weeds wilted. An effective, easy-to-distribute weed solution that isn’t poison? It’s a revelation. I still have some bare spots in the lawn, and some weeds have proven to be persistent. However, the fact that I was so impressed with the Weed Warrior spot treatment that I bought the concentrated pouches to weed large areas is a testament to the product’s effectiveness.
At publication time, I have not yet applied Sunday’s flower and vegetable garden fertilizers—the weather is only now warming up, and I’m just starting to plant my veggies outdoors. Otherwise, I’m thus far pleased with the effectiveness of Sunday products that I’ve received, though my lawn problems—bare spots and plenty of weeds—haven’t been solved. A few tweaks to the questionnaire and product instructions, and perhaps a more tailored explanation about why certain products are recommended, would have made my experience even better.
“My lawn is beginning to be the envy of the block—it’s a miracle!”
Name, position: Jenny Stanley, Executive Editor
State: Minnesota
Climate: Four seasons; frigid winters, mild summers
Light condition: Partial shade in the front yard, full sun in the backyard
Soil moisture: Average to above-average
Known lawn issues: Bare spots, varying shade and sun
Soil quality: Excellent
Plan name: Lawn & Paws Plan Bundle
Products:
- Active Lawn Liquid Fertilizer
- Pet Lawn Grass Seed
- Pet Patch Lawn Treatment for Spots
What Sunday said about my lawn: Sunday said I have grade-A soil in terms of fertility and nutrients. That was encouraging because it meant I didn’t have to amend the soil drastically in order to start repairing my patchy lawn. And it was really interesting to learn how much organic matter and specific nutrients my soil contains.
My Honest Sunday Review and Rating: 4/5 stars
Of all my homeowner responsibilities, lawn care is usually the one that falls to the bottom of my to-do list. I don’t mind cutting the grass on occasion, but I’ve shied away from digging deeper into lawn care because there’s no one-size-fits-all plan. There’s a lot of research involved in determining the appropriate type of grass seed, fertilizer, weed control, and more for my specific property.
Sunday takes the guesswork out of the equation. After answering some questions and sending in a soil sample, I received a customized plan with recommended products to repair and maintain my neglected turf. Of course, I still had to implement the plan, but eliminating the initial confusion around where to even start made the subscription worth it from the beginning.
So far, I’ve applied Sunday’s Active Lawn liquid fertilizer and Pet Lawn grass seed. Unsightly bare patches that have existed for years are already starting to fill in, and the existing grass looks greener than it ever has before. And as a bonus, this combination of products seems to be keeping weeds at bay as well.
My lawn is beginning to be the envy of the block, too—it’s a miracle! Compared to my neighbors’ dandelion-riddled yards, mine looks lush and vibrant with only grass sprouting where I applied Sunday products. Experts say that a healthy lawn is the best form of weed control, and I’m seeing that for myself with my Sunday subscription.
Later this summer, when my next shipment arrives, I’ll apply Mighty Green and Lawn Strong fertilizers. By fall, according to my custom plan, I’ll apply Grass Powerhouse liquid fertilizer and overseed again. Based on my initial positive results, I can’t wait to tackle my next lawn care to-dos!
DIY Lawn Care. Simplified.
Bob Vila has partnered with Sunday to get your lawn exactly what it needs to thrive. Free Lawn Analysis