Everything you need to launch your trade business.
Everything you need to launch your trade business.
Enter your ZIP and get the right months to fertilize, aerate, overseed and put down pre-emergent for your region. Built from USDA zones and typical frost dates.
Windows are typical for your state and grass type. Frost dates shift year to year and by elevation, so treat these as planning windows, not exact dates.
Punch in your ZIP, pick your grass type if you know it, and you get a season-by-season schedule tuned to your region: when to put down crabgrass pre-emergent, when to feed, when to aerate and overseed, and when to shut the lawn down for winter. It works off your state’s typical USDA hardiness zone and average last and first frost dates, which is the same logic pros use to plan their route work.
Almost every timing question comes down to which type of grass you have. Cool-season grasses (tall fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye) do their real growing in spring and fall, so fall is when they get aerated, overseeded and fed hardest. Warm-season grasses (bermuda, zoysia, St. Augustine, centipede) wake up late, love the heat, and want their fertilizer in summer. If you live in the transition zone, the middle band of the country, you can grow either, and the calendar splits the difference for you.
A mid-grade fertilizer put down at the right time will outperform a premium bag put down at the wrong time, every single year. Pre-emergent that goes down two weeks late does almost nothing, because crabgrass has already germinated. Seed that goes down too close to frost never establishes. Get the windows right and everything else gets easier and cheaper.
If you mow lawns for money, this calendar is more than yard advice. Every row is a service you can sell: pre-emergent in early spring, aeration and overseeding in the shoulder season, fertilization programs all year. Timing your offers to the calendar is the easiest way to turn mowing customers into full-program customers. And if you are still getting the business off the ground, start with our full guide on how to start a landscaping business.
Cool-season lawns: early September and late October, plus a light spring feeding. Warm-season lawns: every 6 to 8 weeks from June through August, starting about three weeks after green-up. Your ZIP result above gives the windows for your area.
Cool-season: late August through September, seeding right after you aerate so seed hits open soil. Warm-season: aerate in late spring during peak growth; overseeding is optional and usually just winter rye in October.
When soil temps hit about 55°F for a few days straight. That lines up roughly with your last frost date in cool regions and late winter in warm ones. Forsythia blooming is the old-timer signal, and it still works.
No. They are typical windows for your state. Elevation, microclimate and a weird spring can shift things a week or two either way. Watch soil temps for anything seed or pre-emergent related.
The Landscaping Starter Kit has everything before day one: licensing checklists, pricing templates, contracts, marketing and more. One kit, one price, no monthly fees.
