A healthy lawn is mostly a matter of doing the right thing at the right time. Timing shifts with your grass type and climate, so treat this as a framework and adjust it for where you live.
Spring
- Clean up leaves, sticks and winter debris so light and air reach the soil.
- Sharpen mower blades and service equipment before the first cut.
- Start up and check irrigation: look for broken heads, leaks and spray hitting pavement.
- Apply pre-emergent weed control before soil temperatures reach the mid-50s Fahrenheit, when crabgrass starts to germinate.
- Begin mowing as soon as the grass actively grows, following the one-third rule.
Summer
- Raise the mowing height a notch to shade the soil and reduce stress.
- Water deeply and infrequently, early in the morning.
- Aerate and fertilize warm-season grasses while they are growing strongly.
- Watch for brown patches that do not respond to water; they can signal grubs, disease or a sprinkler problem.
The right work at the right time does more than any single product.
Fall
- Aerate and overseed cool-season lawns while the soil is still warm and the air is cooler.
- Fertilize cool-season grasses, which store energy for winter now.
- Keep leaves off the lawn; a thick, wet layer smothers grass.
- In regions with freezing winters, winterize the irrigation system before the first hard freeze.
- Property managers: settle snow and ice plans and stake the site.
Winter
- Stay off frozen or frosted grass when you can; footprints can damage the blades.
- Prune many deciduous trees while they are dormant, when their structure is easy to see.
- Clean, sharpen and store equipment.
- Plan spring projects: beds, hardscape, irrigation upgrades or a design refresh.
A note on treatments
Fertilizer and weed control work best when the product, rate and timing match the grass and the season. Applications should follow the label and local rules, and in many states commercial applications must be made by licensed technicians. LawnPoint’s treatment programs, when its branches open in 2027, will be applied by state-licensed technicians.