Looking for a month by month lawn care calendar? Lawn Phix created this specialized lawn care calendar and schedule for cool-season grasses – located in the Northeast (Zone 6b) in New England. Quickly check your lawn care tasks for each month of the season in this monthly guide to a healthy, thick green turf.
View and make a copy of my lawn care calendar on Google Sheets – and download a free copy of my cool-season lawn care guide here.
Table of Contents
- March Lawn Care
- April Lawn Care
- May Lawn Care
- June Lawn Care
- July Lawn Care
- August Lawn Care
- September Lawn Care
- October Lawn Care
- November Lawn Care
- FAQs
March Lawn Care
- The first day of spring is March 20, 2022
- Cleaning up is the main goal this month. Remove all branches, sticks, twigs, acorns and/or pine cones from the grass
- Assess the lawn and look for troubled areas including snow mold
- Pick up all other debris such as leaves that may have stuck remained over winter. A leaf blower is a good idea
- Get your mower ready. Sharpen your blades. I love the Gator G3 mulching blade by Oregon
- Get a soil test done so you know what your dirt needs heading into the season
April Lawn Care
- Early spring lawn care: Lightly rake the grass. This is going to help with airflow and circulation, and allow the blades of grass to stand up, exposing more blade surface to the sunlight
- Use a pre-emergent herbicides before soil temps hit 55 degrees. When forsythia start blooming, the crabgrass seeds are germinating. Stay ahead here
- If you didn’t winterize your lawn from the previous fall/winter, and didn’t add a late season fertilizer, apply a spring fertilizer application.
- Consider adding humic acids and micro nutrient to begin activating the soil microbes. Kelp4Less ExtremeBlend or Green lawn & Turf.
- Lime here if needed (see: soil test)
- 4 Step Plan users: Your Step 1 begins now
- Detailed Spring Lawn Care Tips
- Products:
- Barricade (liquid)
- 0-0-7 Prodiamine (granular)
- 25-0-10 with Dimension (granular)
- Dimension 2EW (liquid)
- Kelp4Less Extreme Blend
- Green lawn & Turf
May Lawn Care
- Mow tall and frequently. Recycle, or mulch your clippings back into the grass. Don’t bag unless the clippings are too long – in which case you need to mow taller and/or more frequently. Looking for 3″ blades
- Continue to address soil test. Add a starter fertilizer now as soil temps hit 60 degrees and the turf really begins to grow
- Grub Control & Treatment: If there’s a history of grubs or sod webworms, add grub prevention – we highly recommend Acelepryn. To kill grubs within 48 hours, use an insecticide like Dylox.
- Begin to spot spray and kill weeds. For a detailed post about weed control, read How To Get Rid of and Control Weeds in Your Lawn
- Understand N counts by using our Nitrogen Calculator
- Begin your fungicide preventative treatments now
- Products:
- Acelepryn liquid or granular
- Kelp4Less
- Carbon Phix
- Fungicide prevention
June Lawn Care
- The first day of summer is June 21, 2022
- Apply a second application of pre-emergent, this time using Dithiopyr. It also has post-emergent qualities that will help kill crabgrass and dandelions
- Begin your irrigation. Aim for 1″-1.5″ of water per week – including natural rainwater. Water deeply but infrequently: 2-3 times per week at the most, preferably between 4-9 a.m.
- Lawn fungus, such as brown patch, can also start now. Ideal climates are hot and humid. Seasons with lots of rain and hot humid overnight temps make an ideal environment for brown patch etc. An application of Heritage G can prevent and control turfgrass diseases for up to 28 days (also see products from May above)
- Raise mower height to ~3.5″ (depending on grass type)
- Spot-spray broadleaf weeds in earlier mornings or later evenings when air temperatures are under 85 degrees
- Products:
July Lawn Care
- High heat and low rainfalls may lead to dormant grasses
- Irrigate as long as your town allows. Aiming for 1.5″ of weekly watering
- Keep an eye out for lawn diseases and fungus – especially as humidity rises
- Apply curative rates of fungicides
- Watch for grubs and other lawn insects
- Fertilize with slow release nitrogen fertilizer and organic lawn products
- Summer Survival (Potash , Humic Acid, Sea Kelp) is a great option
- Never fertilize dormant turf
- Products:
August Lawn Care
- Keep an eye out for lawn diseases and fungus – especially as humidity rises.
- Treat with liquid lawn fungicides
- Watch for grubs and other lawn insects
- Use Dylox Granular or Dylox Liquid to kill grubs and cinch bugs
- Fertilize with organic, slow-release fertilizer
- Never fertilize dormant turf
- Apply micos like 0-0-2 MicroGreene, RGS or Humic12
- Prepare to overseed and kill weeds
- Depending on weed type, use broadleaf weed killers and/or crabgrass killers
- Best time to renovate your lawn
September Lawn Care
- First day of fall is September 22, 2022
- Best time of year to start a new lawn and/or overseed you lawn
- Dethatch using a power rake, tow-behind dethatcher, or dethatching rake
- Core aerate doing a double-pass – up/down then left/right (north/south and east/west)
- Mow low around 2 – 2.5″
- Overseed or slice seed with a quality grass seed such as Jonathan Green Black Beauty or GCI Turf. Depending on how thin or think your turn is, aiming for 3- lbs. per 1,000
- Fertilize with a a quality starter fertilizer such as XSTART from Yard Mastery.
- Lime – depending on soil needs, a calcitic lime like Jonathan Green Magical
- When seeding, you can also use Tenacity
- Not seeding? Consider nitrogen blitz to push your lawn to recovery.
October Lawn Care
- Mow low again, aiming for ~2.5 – 3.0″ grass height. Final cut of the season should be 2″
- If you skipped September tasks, do it early as nighttime temps will drop to unfavorable temperatures for new seedlings trying to germinate
- Begin winterizer fertilizer like Macro-Micro Blend by Yard Mastery or ProPEAT 17-0-4
- Depending on location – After your final mow (when the grass stops top growth) and before your ground freezes
Related post: Prepare your lawn for winter
November Lawn Care
- Lime with pelletized lime to over-winter: Jonathan Green Magical
- Final application of winterizer fertilizer: Macro-Micro Blend by Yard Mastery or ProPEAT 17-0-4
- Final mow with a HOC of ~2″
So, there you have it. I hope this calendar helps you with your annual lawn care maintenance. It’s worked for me – check out my front yard renovations.
Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
FAQs
When is the best time to overseed my lawn?
For cool-season lawns, the best time to overseed is late summer and early fall. For example, in the Northeast and Zone 5-6, the last week of August or the beginning of September are the best conditions for new grass. The number of weeds to be invasive is much lower in September than spring seeding in the spring (April).
Can I fertilize my lawn in the summertime?
If you can irrigate regularly, you can still add fertilizer. However, it is best to apply less nitrogen during the hot summer months – particularly when drought stress occurs. Ideally, spoon-feeding with micronutrients such as humic acid and sea kelp (Kelp4Less ExtremeBlend) or a combination with molasses powder (Kelp4Less Green Lawn & Turf). Molasses in the hotter months can provide energy in the form of sugars/carbohydrates which can help “dethatch” the lawn.
How early can I fertilize my lawn in spring?
In the Northeast and Massachusetts (Zone 5-6) for example, you can begin to feed your lawn in April and May. Feeding your lawn too early can cause excessive top growth which isn’t ideal – particularly if there’s still a risk of freezing overnight temperatures and morning frost. When the air and soil temperatures are consistently in the 40s and 50s respectively is a good time to begin your feeding.
How frequently should I mow my lawn?
During peak growing season (May & June in the Northeast) you could be mowing as frequently as 2-3 times per week. This, of course, also depends on your fertilization and watering schedule. Ideally, you follow the “1/3 rule” where you are never cutting off more than 1/3 of the grass blade during each mowing. For example, if you want to maintain a 3″ lawn, you never want the grass to exceed
15 thoughts on “Month-by-Month Lawn Care Calendar & Schedule”
Hi,
I appreciate you providing this info! I’m new at caring for my lawn, but have really enjoyed learning over the last few years.
Recently I’ve discovered Poa Annua in a large portion of my yard. We live in Boston. I know I need to apply a pre-emergent in the fall for prevention, but since I’m seeing the weeds in my yard now, I’ve read that putting down a post-emergent would be a good idea. The problem is that most post-emergent herbicides are for warm season grasses. What would you recommend for this problem?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Abby. You can use Tenacity to damage the plant. But they are annuals, so they will soon die off by the summer. The Tenacity will cause it to turn brown – not sure if you want that at this time of year.
https://lawnphix.com/lawn-care/poa-annua-annual-bluegrass-weed-control/
Apply your normal split applications of pre-emergents in early April and early June, and again late August. Mow tall and avoid over-watering. These will help suppress poa annua. But keep in mind that they drop many seeds. These seeds are tough and can remain dormant in the soil for several years before germinating. So it’s a classic case of being a marathon and not a sprint. Good luck!
Hi,
I really enjoy your month by month care program. One of a kind out there.
I live in Lexington MA, and I’ve been having a lot of moss growing all over. And so are my neighbors. I know about poor drainage, acidic soil and wet/humid conditions, but is moss a growing problem now a days? (pardon the pun). Anyway, what can I do to mitigate this issue? thanks for you time and efforts.
Al
Hi Al – thanks! Sounds like you know what type of soil conditions are for moss. But it can really grow anywhere. Aside from what you mentioned (damp conditions, shady area etc.) moss also grows because of bare spots. Mother Nature doesn’t like bare spots and will fill it in, be it moss or weeds etc. You could kill the moss with Moss Out when try to re-seed that area. I’d probably suggest bringing in some new screened loam and overseeding heavily to cover those areas. Good luck and I hope this helps!
Hi Mark,
Great information for someone who’s completely new to lawn care!
I had some large patches of dead grass (learned recently due to grubs – I thought it was just dormant, and it wasn’t coming back). I just removed the dead grass, but is it too late to seed? If it is, and I seed in the fall, would I apply the starter fertilizer to the bare spots, seed, and then switch back to regular for the rest of the lawn?
Hi Julio,
Thanks! Depending on where you live, it may not be too late. I’m in Massachusetts and just seeded my backyard. Just get good seed-to-soil contact, cover with peat moss, and keep it damp. If you seeded in the fall, I would overseed the entire yard, hit those bare spots heavier, and use starter fertilizer over the entire lawn.
Good luck!
Great article! I’ve been following along to your google sheet which is a great toolfor a rookie like me. So far I’ve done the prodiamine and propeat 13-5-8. I’m due for another pro peat (17-0-4) fertilizer soon and then after that also going to apply the Andersons fertilizer with .25% dimension 21-0-10 as the second pre-emergent (following your 5 best pre-emergents article) instead of the 19-0-7. My Question is around the weeds and clovers I already have in my lawn, since there’s a decent amount in some spots. Should I replace the next fertilizer with a weed and feed product to help kill the current weeds, clovers, etc, or should I just continue the course with the next propeat 17-0-4 and Andersons 21-0-10? Or maybe just spot spray the weeds? Pretty big yard so hand picking the weeds would be quite the task. I’m in Foxboro, MA. Thanks again for posting all this great stuff!
Hi Tim. Thanks for following along and for your comment! I’d personally spot spray. You will have better results. Weed and feed can be tricky: the ground needs to be damp for the product to stick to the weeds. You also have to be mindful of your mowing and irrigation/weather.
Feel free to also use the new Carbon Phix as a replacement. It’s a 20-0-12 and has lots of great stuff like iron and Humic.
Is it too late to put down Winterguard Weed and Feed in New Jersey?
Hi Trish – If your soil temps are still in the 50s, then the herbicides should still be effective. If not, I’d apply a winter fertilizer (no herbicides) when the grass’ top-growth has stopped – after your final mowing. I like the 10-0-20 by Jonathan Green.
Hey Mark,
Just wanted to say this is all great info to help someone get started on their lawn care journey! As someone who is interested myself, I really enjoyed your in depth descriptions for each month! I find lawn care to vary so much during different seasons and these instructions were great for every time in the year! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Hi, Just discovered your site. Great info. We live south of Boston. I did Scott’s Turf Builder Halts in April, Turf Builder Weed and Feed in June. I was due to apply Summerguard end of July/early August but we have had a drought and had the terrible heat wave so I never applied. It is now August 18. Is it too late to apply Summerguard? We do have a well and irrigation. I was just going to skip Summerguard and do the suggested next step Thick’R Lawn the first week in September.
You can apply that now. Summerguard contains Bifen which will help with the surface insects, too.
I have a question for you can you help me out? I’m in NJ with a lawn problem
Hi Eileen – happy to help. Leave your question here in the comments or message here.