Cool-season grass grows best during the colder temperatures of spring and fall, so your lawn care is most intense during those seasons. Summer lawn care mostly involves irrigation and mowing — if it doesn’t go dormant.
You can check out this infographic to find out what lawn care tasks you need to do to maintain your cool-season grass.
Let’s get into the specifics of warm-season lawn care for each season:
Popular cool-season grasses include fine fescues (chewings fescue, hard fescue, sheep fescue, and creeping red fescues), Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, and bentgrasses (colonial and creeping). If you don’t grow these grasses, check our warm-season lawn care calendar instead.
Spring cool-season lawn care: March, April, May
Cool-season grasses start growing faster once temperatures hit 50 degrees Fahrenheit and above, reaching their peak growth season at 65 to 75 degrees.
Here are the lawn care tasks you have to do in the spring:
- Avoid foot traffic
- Clean up the yard
- Buy lawn care supplies
- Maintain the mower and lawn care equipment
- Check your irrigation system
- Test and amend the soil
- Apply fungicides
- Dethatch
- Aerate
- Control weeds
- Overseed or lay sod
- Fertilize
- Apply topdressing
- Mow
- Control pests
The timing of your lawn care duties will depend on where you live:
- Homeowners in the transition zone will likely start spring lawn care in April. Some states in this area are Kentucky, California (Central), and Oklahoma.
- Those in the very north of the continental U.S. may not even start until May. Some states in this area include Washington, Maine, and Minnesota.
You can read our article about spring lawn care to learn more: “Tips for Spring Lawn Care”. If you live in the Northeast, check out this lawn care guide tailored to your region: “Spring Lawn Care Tips for the Northeast”.
Do you want a headstart with your lawn care this spring? Try connecting with a local lawn care pro on Lawn Love to help.
Avoid foot traffic
Many homeowners with cool-season lawns will see snow up to early spring. If your lawn is still snowy, don’t walk on it if you can avoid it.
Nicole Stoner, an extension educator with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Gage County Extension, says that grass can’t recover from foot traffic damage when it’s frozen because it’s dormant. “If you walk on frozen turf, you may notice footprints through the lawn when the lawn starts to green back up in the spring,” she says.
You also should avoid stepping on your lawn as the snow melts. Stoner also says that walking on even partially frozen soil can lead to soil compaction.
Clean up the yard
A clean yard is a healthier yard. If your lawn still has snow, but it’s scattered around, then spread the snow evenly. It will help it melt faster. An unevenly moist lawn can result in snow molds.
Once the snow has all melted, bring out your rake or leaf blower to remove fallen leaves and debris on your lawn. These can smother or injure your lawn.
Buy lawn care supplies
Early in the spring season, you should buy your lawn care supplies such as fertilizer, herbicides, soil amendments, and pesticides. Buying early means you won’t be caught off-guard when you need to use them on your cool-season lawn.
Maintain the mower and lawn care equipment
The best time to check your lawn mower and other equipment is before you use them. So, do maintenance and check for issues in early spring. Here’s what you need to do:
- Sharpen mower blades and other cutting tools
- Perform a lawn mower tune-up
- Repair broken lawn equipment
- Clean your mower
- Replace string trimmer line
- Get fresh gas or new batteries
Here are some guides to help you with lawn equipment maintenance:
- “How to Sharpen Lawn Mower Blades”
- “Best Lawn Mower Maintenance Practices”
- “How to Repair a Lawn Mower”
- “How to Put String in a Weed Eater”
Check your irrigation system
Once you’re sure that the last hard freeze of the season has come and gone, it’s time to de-winterize your sprinkler system. Take this time to check your irrigation system for issues.
You can learn more about sprinkler system maintenance in these articles:
When should I start watering my grass regularly again? Irrigate your lawn regularly after all the snow has melted to prevent overwatering. Aim for 1 inch of water per week over two to three watering sessions. You can learn more about how long to water your lawn in this guide: “When and How to Water Your Lawn”.
Test and amend the soil
While you can test your soil at any time of the year as long as the ground is not frozen, spring is the best time to conduct a soil test. A soil test will tell you if you need to amend your soil and what type of fertilizer to use. Look at these guides to learn more about soil testing:
If your soil needs to be limed, try postponing it to fall as spring is not the best time to apply this soil amendment. Sulfur should be applied in late spring.
Soil amendments can also help improve the texture of your soil. You can learn more about different soil amendments in these articles:
- “What Are the Different Types of Soil Amendments for Your Lawn?”
- Soil pH issues:
- “What is Acidic Soil?”
- “How to Change Your Soil pH” (contains a guide on how to lower soil pH with sulfur)
- “Complete Guide to Different Soil Types” (for soil texture)
We’ll talk about fertilizer and soil nutrients below.
Apply fungicides
The cool and moist conditions of spring make your lawn a breeding ground for fungal diseases. Some lawn diseases that might attack your lawn this spring are:
- Dollar spot
- Fairy ring
- Gray snow mold
- Pink snow mold
- Leaf spot and melting out
- Turfgrass rust
- Red thread
You can learn more about lawn diseases and how to tackle them in this guide: How to Identify and Treat Grass Fungus”. Generally, you’ll need to use a fungicide to cure your lawn.
Dethatch
Spring is not the best time to dethatch your lawn, but it’s a good time to do it if your lawn has a lot of excess thatch. Thatch is the layer of organic matter between your turf and the soil. Excess thatch is bad for your lawn as it can foster pests and disease (among other things).
Dethatching is the process of removing a thick thatch layer – about ½-inch thick. You can dethatch your cool-season lawn as soon as it has greened up. Your grass will need to be actively growing to recover from this intensive lawn care procedure.
Note: Fall is the best time to dethatch your lawn. Postpone it to fall if you can.
Aerate
If you have compacted soil, then you’ll need to aerate your lawn. Aerating your lawn involves poking holes in it to loosen it so water, air, and nutrients can reach your turf’s root system. Soil compaction can lead to poor grass growth.
Aeration should only be done when your grass is actively growing, but the most ideal time to aerate would be in the fall because your grass won’t have to contend with the summer heat.
Control weeds
Spring is the perfect time to get a leg up on summer annuals by applying pre-emergent herbicides, which prevent them from sprouting in the first place. Apply pre-emergent weed killer when the soil temperature hits 50 degrees. It’s important not to apply pre-emergent late if you want to prevent crabgrass.
Note: Generally, there is a 10-degree difference between air and soil temperature.
If you want to learn more about pre-emergent weed control, check out these articles:
- “When and How to Apply Pre-Emergent Herbicides”
- “Types of Pre-Emergent Herbicides”
- “Does Corn Gluten Meal Work on Weeds?” (a natural alternative)
- “Best Pre-Emergent Herbicides” (product review)
If your lawn has weeds from the previous seasons, you can also apply post-emergent herbicides to kill them. If you don’t want to use a weed killer, you can also use other methods to get rid of them.
Can I use weed and feed? If you have mature weeds, you can use weed and feed. However, most weed and feed products can’t prevent future weeds from growing.
Moss can also grow on your lawn in spring. If you’d like to get rid of it, check out our guide here: “How to Get Rid of Moss in Your Lawn”.
Overseed or lay sod
There are many reasons why your lawn becomes patchy, but there are fewer solutions. One of the ways to fix patchy grass is by overseeding. Overseeding is the process of planting grass seed on an existing lawn.
Spring is not the best time to overseed cool-season grass, but you can do it if your lawn is looking really sparse. Otherwise, wait until fall.
You can also lay down sod instead of overseeding. Spring is not the best time to lay down sod though, as your new grass will have to contend with the upcoming summer heat. However, installing sod is the best if you want an instant lawn.
Fertilize
Your cool-season lawn will need nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N-P-K) to fuel its growth – very important now that it’s in its peak growing season. These important macronutrients are found in fertilizer.
If you conducted a soil test, the results may have told you if your soil has nutrient deficiencies. Use the results to help pick out a fertilizer with a ratio (denoted by three numbers corresponding to N-P-K) that will fix these deficiencies. Otherwise, just use a balanced fertilizer or an organic fertilizer.
Don’t fertilize too late into the season or you will force your grass to grow past its active growth season, which can be stressful for your grass.
Apply topdressing
Is your grass still looking lackluster despite everything you’ve done? Maybe you need to topdress your lawn. It’s the process of laying down a thin layer of organic material like compost over your lawn to amend the soil.
Mow
The first mow of the spring season will depend on where you live:
- Homeowners in the transition zone may be able to mow their lawns in April. The transition zone is an area where the conditions allow for both cool-season and warm-season grass can grow.
- Those further north may have to wait to mow until May. The further north you go, the later you’ll wait to mow your lawn.
Only mow when your grass has grown long enough, but don’t wait too long to cut. Always follow the one-third rule; never scalp your lawn unless necessary.
You will likely need to mow at least twice a week during the height of the growing season, before slowing down as the temperatures heat up in summer.
If you want to learn more about proper mowing this spring:
Control pests
Spring brings baby animals like birds, mammals, and (unfortunately) pests. If the problem gets really bad – resulting in damaged grass – then it might be time to bust out the pesticide. Some common spring lawn pests include:
- Armyworms
- Billbugs
- Chinch bugs
- Cutworms (a type of caterpillar)
- Sod webworms
If you want to learn more about spring pest control, check out these articles:
Our guide on Integrated Pest Management may also be of interest to you if you would like to deal with pests in a more sustainable manner.
Summer cool-season lawn care: June, July, August
The summer months bring some relief for homeowners with cool-season grass as they slow down their growth, which means less mowing. According to Aaron Patton, a professor at Purdue University’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, cool-season grass can grow poorly above 77-degree temperatures because it can’t photosynthesize properly at these temps.
Even though summers in the northern half of the country are milder, always keep yourself hydrated and well-protected against the sun when doing yard work. Maintain your lawn early before the heat of the day sets in.
Here are the lawn maintenance tasks you will need to do in the summer months:
- Mow high
- Water the lawn
- Control weeds
- Control grubs and pests
- Apply fungicides
- Overseed
If you don’t want to spend your summer days on your lawn, try connecting with a lawn care pro near you on Lawn Love.
Mow high
Mowing high in the summer is good for all types of grass, but it’s especially helpful for cool-season turf. According to Jackie Jordan, a Master Gardener Coordinator with the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service, mowing high is better during the summer because your lawn will photosynthesize better, promoting strong roots and improving drought tolerance.
During the summer months, your lawn might go dormant. If it does go dormant, stop mowing your grass. Dormant grass is brown and doesn’t grow much (if at all). You can read this article to learn more about when to stop mowing your lawn: “When Not to Mow Your Lawn”.
If you do mow, practice grasscycling. It’s the act of leaving a thin layer of grass clippings on your lawn. If you want to learn more about grasscycling, you can read these articles:
Water the lawn
Generally, cool-season grasses need more water than warm-season grasses – 1.5 inches of water or more per week – to stay green. According to Colorado State University, Kentucky bluegrass may even need 2.5 inches of water or more per week during the hottest part of summer.
Understandably, that means that maintaining a green cool-season lawn this season can be expensive. There’s not much you can do if you want to keep your lawn green; perhaps you can limit irrigation to whenever you see signs of dehydration.
If you don’t really mind having a brown lawn this summer, you can let your grass go dormant by slowly lessening how much water you give. Then, just water every few weeks to keep your grass alive.
If you want to learn more about watering your lawn, check out these articles:
- “How Long Should You Water Your Lawn?”
- “When Is the Best Time to Water Your Grass?”
- “What Temperature is Too Hot to Water Your Grass?”
- “When is the Best Time to Water Your Lawn in Hot Weather?”
- “How Often Should I Water My Lawn with a Sprinkler System?”
What do I do during a drought? Water your lawn as best as you can if you want to keep it green. However, it might be better to let it go dormant. You can learn more about your lawn and drought in these articles:
- “How to Prepare Your Lawn for Drought”
- “How to Maintain Your Lawn During a Drought”
- “How to Help Your Lawn Recover from Drought”
If you live in a drought-prone area, you may want to consider planting drought-tolerant turfgrass. Most drought-resistant cool-season grasses are fescues.
Note: Some areas may have watering restrictions. Always check with your local authorities.
Control weeds
Summer is too late to prevent summer annuals from popping up on your lawn, but it’s nearly the perfect time to use pre-emergent herbicides to prevent winter annuals. Apply pre-emergent herbicides during late summer as it’s the best time to prevent winter annuals from germinating.
If you have weeds on your lawn, you can use post-emergent herbicide, hand-weeding, and other weed removal methods to get rid of them. You may find these articles useful:
- “How and When to Apply Post-Emergent Herbicides”
- “Types of Post-Emergent Herbicides”
- “Non-Toxic Ways to Kill Weeds”
- “How to Use Salt to Kill Weeds”
- “How to Make a Homemade Weed Killer”
Don’t use weed and feed products on cool-season grass this summer; your grass doesn’t need fertilizing this season.
Here are some other articles about weed control you might find useful:
- “How to Get Rid of Weeds in Grass”
- “Most Common Lawn Weeds (and How to Get Rid of Them)”
- “How to Control Annual Weeds vs. Perennial Weeds”
- “Common Broadleaf Weeds Found in Your Yard”
- “How to Identify and Control Broadleaf Weeds”
- “How to Identify and Control Grassy Weeds”
Control grubs and pests
June is the best time to prevent grubs. However, you may find some other summer pests munching on your grass such as the following:
- Aphids
- Armyworms
- Chinch bugs
Use pesticides to get rid of them if the problem becomes too bad.
Apply fungicides
While summer is typically not as wet as spring or fall, fungal diseases can affect your lawn this season. Some summer lawn diseases include:
- Summer patch
- Brown patch
- Anthracnose
- Fairy rings
- Leaf spot and melting out
- Red thread (in rainy areas)
- Turfgrass rust
- Dollar spot
Overseed
You can overseed your cool-season lawn in late August, just as the temperatures cool down. If you’re going to dethatch or aerate your lawn in the fall, postpone overseeding until after these procedures.
Fall cool-season lawn care: September, October, November
Now that the temperatures have started dropping, your lawn care duties will start piling up again. However, some homeowners will have a shorter lawn care season this fall. It all depends on how early the first frost will come to their area.
Cool-season grasses go dormant when the air temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In the very northern areas of the Lower 48, these temperatures can come as early as mid-October. Some states in this area are New Jersey, New York, Montana, and Michigan.
- Homeowners in the transition zone will have to wait until November or even December before they can take a break from lawn care.
Here are the things you need to do this fall:
- Apply fungicides
- Add soil amendments
- Dethatch
- Aerate
- Control weeds
- Overseed
- Fertilize
- Control pests
- Mow for the last time of the season
- Clean up the yard
- Winterize your lawn
Are you intimidated by the amount of lawn care you’ll do this fall? You don’t have to be if you hire a pro near you through Lawn Love to do it instead.
Apply fungicides
The colder temperatures of fall can foster lawn disease on your turf, so don’t be too surprised if your lawn gets diseased spots. Some fungal diseases you might see this fall are:
- Red thread
- Pink snow mold
- Leaf spot and melting out
- Turfgrass rust
- Dollar spot
Add soil amendments
If your soil has too high of a pH level, then you’ll need to lime your lawn. Fall is the perfect time to amend your lawn with lime as it’ll allow the lime to break down into the soil over the fall and winter.
If you didn’t already do a soil test in the spring, you can test your soil this fall. Don’t apply amendments if you’re not sure your soil has issues.
Dethatch
Fall is the best time to dethatch your cool-season lawn as it won’t have to contend with hotter temperatures in the next season. Your lawn will be able to recover properly from any stress from detaching your lawn.
A thatch layer more than ½-inch thick is too thick. These articles might be useful to you if you need to dethatch your lawn:
- “What is Thatch?”
- “What is Dethatching?” (also has a guide on how to dethatch your lawn)
Aerate
The fall months are also the ideal time to aerate your cool-season lawn. Your lawn will need aeration if the soil is compacted; clay soils will need to be aerated more frequently.
You can learn more about lawn aeration in these guides:
Soil compaction:
Aeration:
- “How to Aerate Your Lawn”
- “Benefits of Aerating Your Lawn”
- “Core Aeration vs. Spike Aeration”
- “How to Aerate a Lawn by Hand”
- “When to Aerate Your Lawn”
Control weeds
Much like spring, fall is an important time for weed control.
You can use pre-emergent herbicides as soon as the temperatures hover around 70 degrees or lower. This will prevent winter annuals from germinating.
Fall is also great for post-emergent weed control of perennial weeds, as they will be storing nutrients in their roots to prepare for the winter. Any post-emergent herbicides you spray will be sent down to their roots, which will severely injure — if not outright kill — them.
But it’s important that you apply post-emergent weed killers before it gets too cold. Weed management specialist Amit Jhala and extension educator Jenny Rees — experts with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources — write that temperature affects the efficacy of weed killers.
Rees and Jhala say post-emergent burndown herbicides will work slowly when applied at 40 to 60-degree temperatures. If you apply herbicides near freezing temperatures, they will likely fail.
You also can turn to other post-emergent weed control methods instead of spraying herbicides. These articles will teach you more about your weed control options:
- “How and When to Apply Post-Emergent Herbicides”
- “Types of Post-Emergent Herbicides”
- “Non-Toxic Ways to Kill Weeds”
- “How to Use Salt to Kill Weeds”
- “How to Make a Homemade Weed Killer”
- “Is Weed and Feed Bad for Your Lawn?”
- “How and When to Apply Weed and Feed on Your Lawn”
You can also use weed and feed products to kill existing weeds and fertilize your lawn in one fell swoop this fall.
Overseed or lay sod
The fall temperatures are more hospitable for cool-season grass germination. Overseed in September, especially if your area’s first frost date is in mid-October. Cool-season grass should be seeded at least 45 days before the estimated date of the first frost.
You can read more about overseeding in these guides:
- “What is Overseeding?”
- “Steps to Overseed a Lawn”
- “How to Grow Grass”
- “How to Plant Grass Seed”
- “Tips for Growing Grass in Shady Areas”
- “How to Plant Grass Seed on Hard Dirt”
- “How to Plant Grass Seed on a Slope”
Fall is the most optimal time to lay down sod. It’s as cool as spring, but there won’t be any hot temperatures in the coming months. Don’t wait to lay down sod. While sod is hardier than grass grown from seed, it will still need a few weeks to develop strong roots.
Caring for new grass is different than maintaining an established lawn. Here are some useful articles if you’re growing grass from seed:
- “Best Ways to Grow Grass Fast”
- How Long Does It Take New Grass Seed to Grow?
- “How Long to Water New Grass Seed”
- “How Often to Water Grass Seed”
- “Will Fertilizer Kill New Grass?”
- “A Complete Guide to Fertilizing New Grass”
If it’s too late for fall overseeding, you might want to consider dormant seeding. This method of seeding can be done as long as the ground hasn’t frozen over yet. Your lawn will still be patchy in the fall, but it will be lush in the coming spring. You can read more in our guide to dormant seeding.
Otherwise, postpone overseeding your lawn until spring.
Fertilize
To grow vigorously in the fall months, your cool-season grass will need nutrients. The best time to fertilize your cool-season lawn is whenever the temperatures hover between 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
If you conducted a professional soil test, use your soil test results as a guide to figure out what fertilizer ratio (N-P-K) to use. Otherwise, use a balanced fertilizer.
Take a look at these articles if you want to learn more about lawn fertilization:
- “Fertilizer 101: How to Fertilize Your Lawn”
- “Ways to Apply Fertilizer”
- “Fertilizer Basics: What to Look for in Your Fertilizer”
- “How Often Should You Fertilize Your Lawn?”
- “When is the Best Time to Fertilize Your Lawn?”
- “Can You Combine Organic and Inorganic Fertilizer?”
- “Effective Homemade Fertilizers for Your Lawn”
If you’re not sure what fertilizer and equipment to use, take a look at our product reviews:
Control pests
Pests are unfortunately still active in the fall. In fact, some of them may even hide in leaf piles. A few fall pests you might see terrorizing your turf are:
- Leatherjackets
- Cutworms (a type of caterpillar)
- Mole crickets
- Sod webworms
Mow for the last time
The last mow of the season will depend on where you live. You want to stop mowing when your grass stops growing. You can gradually lower the mowing height to help prevent snow molds but don’t go lower than the recommended height range for your grass type.
Cool-season grass goes dormant when the temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Once they go dormant, they will pretty much stop growing.
- In the very northern areas of the Lower 48, these temperatures can come as early as mid-October. Some states in this area are New Jersey, New York, Montana, and Michigan.
- Homeowners in the transition zone will have to wait until November or even December before they can take a break from mowing.
But while your grass is still growing, mow it when it becomes long enough. In the fall, you may have to mow more than once a week.
If you have questions about fall mowing, these guides will help you:
Clean up the yard
Fall is regarded by some as the most beautiful season because of the falling leaves. However, these leaves are a nuisance to some homeowners. Blow away the leaves with a leaf blower or use a leaf rake to keep your lawn tidy. Fallen leaves and other debris can smother your grass – not ideal for the coming winter.
Here are some guides you might find useful once you get around to cleaning up your lawn:
Winterize your lawn
You need to properly prepare your turf for the coming winter months so it can survive relatively unscathed. A lot of lawn care throughout fall already helps winterize your lawn. You can check out the specifics in our guide on how to winterize your lawn.
Your sprinkler system and lawn equipment also will need to be winterized. Otherwise, your equipment and irrigation system can break. You can consult these articles for more information:
- “How to Winterize Your Sprinkler System”
- “How to Winterize Your Lawn Equipment: A Step-by-Step Guide”
Winter cool-season lawn care: December, January, February
Once winter rolls around, you won’t have to do much. It’s time to relax and spend the season with those who matter most – family, friends, or maybe just yourself. Your lawn will still need some water, but your lawn will be fine thanks to the rain and the snow.
Keep these things in mind this winter, though:
- Avoid foot traffic
- Apply pre-emergent herbicide if it’s warm enough
Avoid foot traffic
Avoid foot traffic as your grass blades are frozen. Stepping on frozen turf will injure it and it won’t be able to recover until spring. Limit winter activities to one area of your lawn to minimize damage to the rest of your yard.
Apply pre-emergent herbicide if it’s warm enough
Apply pre-emergent herbicide if it’s warm enough in February. You can prevent summer annuals from sprouting in the spring if you treat your lawn with pre-emergent herbicides. Only apply pre-emergent herbicides if it’s consistently 50 degrees Fahrenheit in your area; usually, this is only applicable for homeowners in the transition zone.
FAQ about cool-season lawn care
How often should you do lawn maintenance?
The frequency of lawn maintenance will differ depending on the task:
- Mowing is on an as-needed basis, but usually at least once a week. During the peak growing season, expect to mow your lawn twice (or even thrice) a week.
- Lawn irrigation is done two or three times a week, depending on the season. Typically, you’ll need to water less during water seasons and colder temperatures.
- Fertilizer should be applied three to four times a year maximum.
- Aeration, dethatching, and soil amendments are on an as-needed basis.
- Soil tests should be done every few years. You may soil test annually if you’re trying to track the effects of soil amendments.
What is the easiest cool-season grass to maintain?
Generally, fescue grasses (like hard fescue) are the easiest cool-season grasses to maintain. You can read more about low-maintenance grasses in our guide: “Low-Maintenance Grasses as Grass Alternatives.”
If you’d like to see the care requirements for the different types of cool-season grasses, check out our articles here:
What order should I do lawn maintenance?
We’ve ordered lawn care tasks in this article based on a general flow of when to do them. But generally, you want to get the intensive tasks done first before moving on to lighter tasks.
For example, you should dethatch and aerate your lawn before overseeding and fertilizing. Otherwise, your seeds and fertilizer will be disturbed.
Connect with a pro who can maintain your cool-season lawn
Maintaining cool-season grass will reward you with a green lawn even in the winter. However, lawn care can get overwhelming during the peak growing seasons of spring and fall.
If you’re too busy with work and family or you’d rather spend your time doing anything else, you can trust that Lawn Love’s pros can keep your turf in tip-top shape. We have pros all over the country who can help you. Connect with a pro near you on Lawn Love today.
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