A month-by-month lawn calendar for North Texas

Most lawn advice online is written for Ohio or Georgia. Our grass is warm-season (Bermuda, St. Augustine, zoysia), our winters are short and our summers are long. Here's how we schedule the year for yards around Rhome.

January and February

The lawn is dormant. Keep leaves off it and don't fertilize. Mid-February to early March is the window for spring pre-emergent, which stops crabgrass and other summer weeds before they sprout. Miss it and you'll be pulling crabgrass in June.

Crape myrtles and most deciduous shrubs can be pruned now. Leave oaks alone from February through June. That is oak wilt season.

March

Once frost danger is mostly past (usually mid to late March here), scalp dormant Bermuda: mow it down low and bag the dead material. It lets sun reach the soil and the lawn greens up faster. Don't scalp St. Augustine.

Start the sprinkler system, run each zone, and fix heads before you need them.

April and May

Fertilize after the lawn has fully greened up and you've mowed it two or three times, not before. Feeding too early mostly feeds weeds. Mowing goes weekly. Bermuda wants to be cut short, around 1 to 2 inches. St. Augustine stays tall, at 3 to 4 inches.

This is also the start of sod season, and a good time for new beds.

June through August

Water deeply and less often: about an inch a week total, split across your city's allowed days, early in the morning. Raise your mower a notch in the worst heat. Watch St. Augustine for chinch bugs (yellow, dry-looking patches in full sun that don't green up with water) and gray leaf spot.

Don't push nitrogen hard in the heat. A light feeding in early summer is plenty.

September and October

Fall pre-emergent goes down in early to mid September to stop winter weeds like henbit and annual bluegrass. Final fertilizer of the year goes down in early fall. This is the best planting window of the year for trees, shrubs and perennials.

November and December

Bermuda goes dormant after the first hard freeze. Keep leaves raked so they don't mat down on St. Augustine. Winterize the sprinkler system or set it to run only when needed, and make sure your freeze sensor works.

If you'd rather not keep track of any of this, that's what a mowing route is for.

More guides

• Bermuda, St. Augustine or zoysia: which grass for your North Texas yard
• Why your backyard holds water after every storm (and how to fix it)
• When is the best time to lay sod in North Texas?
• How much does sod installation cost in North Texas?
• What does a French drain cost? (And when you don't need one)
• Lawn mowing prices around Rhome and north Fort Worth
• Why is my St. Augustine turning yellow or brown?
• 20 tough plants for North Texas yards (that survive August)
• How long should you run your sprinklers in North Texas?
• When to trim trees and shrubs in North Texas (and when not to)