Most lawn advice online was written for somewhere with real winters and real topsoil. This is the calendar for a lawn in Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven or Chamblee, on red clay, in Zone 8a, with Georgia’s watering rules built in. It covers the three grasses that grow here: Bermuda and Zoysia in the sun, tall fescue in the shade. At each step there’s a conventional way and an organic way, and we do both.
The two rules that don’t change: mow high (Bermuda 1–2.5 inches, Zoysia 1–2, fescue 2–3.5), and water only between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m., which is what the Georgia Water Stewardship Act allows outside of drought. New sod and plantings are exempt for thirty days.
January
Bermuda and Zoysia: dormant and brown. Leave them alone. Don’t feed, don’t water beyond what falls.
Fescue: green and slow. Mow if it needs it. This is the month to pull a soil test; results take two weeks and set the whole year.
Everyone: clean up leaves that smother grass. Sharpen the mower blades. Plan drainage fixes; the wet months show you where the water sits.
February
Pre-emergent month, and the most important application of the year for weeds. Crabgrass germinates when soil hits about 55°F, which around here is late February to early March. Conventional: a labeled pre-emergent. Organic: corn gluten meal, which is less effective and also feeds the lawn.
Fescue: a light feed if the soil test calls for it.
Bermuda and Zoysia: still nothing.
March
Bermuda and Zoysia start greening up late in the month. Resist feeding until they’re fully green; feeding a half-dormant warm-season lawn feeds the weeds.
Fescue: mow at 3 inches. Spot-treat broadleaf weeds.
Everyone: mulch beds, edge, first cleanup. Lime if the soil test says pH is under 6.
April
Bermuda and Zoysia: first feed late in the month once fully green. Core aeration happens late April into May, when they’re growing fast enough to heal.
Fescue: last feed until fall. Raise the mowing height as it warms.
Everyone: irrigation check. Scout for grubs.
May
Bermuda and Zoysia: growing hard; weekly mowing. Second feed late May or early June.
Fescue: nothing but mowing and water. About an inch a week; a rain gauge tells you how much is left to add.
Everyone: armyworm and grub scouting. Beneficial nematodes go down now if you’re doing organic pest control.
June
Bermuda and Zoysia: feed. Weekly mowing at the proper height. Watch for sod webworm.
Fescue: this is the month fescue lawns die in Atlanta, and it’s almost always from being cut short and watered at noon. 3.5 inches, deep water twice a week in the allowed window, no fertilizer.
July
Bermuda and Zoysia: feed if the program calls for it; a lot of lawns look best with a lighter July application. Mow weekly.
Fescue: survive. Shade, height, water. Brown patch shows up in humid weeks; better airflow and morning-only water beat fungicide.
Everyone: mosquito control by getting rid of standing water, not by fogging the yard.
August
Bermuda and Zoysia: last full feed of the year; nothing after early September. Weekly mowing.
Fescue: hang on. Plan the fall renovation now and order seed.
Everyone: order fall bulbs and native perennials; the fall planting window is the best of the year here.
September
Pre-emergent again for winter weeds (poa annua, henbit, chickweed), mid-month.
Bermuda and Zoysia: no more nitrogen. Mow.
Fescue: core aerate the last two weeks of the month, then overseed and feed. The single biggest thing you can do for a fescue lawn all year.
October
Fescue: overseeding window continues through mid-October; water the seed lightly and often (new seed is exempt from the watering schedule for thirty days). Feed.
Bermuda and Zoysia: slowing, going dormant by month’s end. Some people overseed with ryegrass for winter color; we don’t recommend it, it fights the Bermuda in spring.
Everyone: leaf removal starts. Plant trees, shrubs and perennials; fall is when roots grow here.
November
Fescue: feed (the November feeding builds roots for next summer). Mow.
Bermuda and Zoysia: dormant. Leave them.
Everyone: leaves, leaves, leaves. Mulch them into beds or the lawn rather than bagging. Drain and winterize irrigation if you have it.
December
Fescue: mow if needed. Everything else rests. Read the soil test from January and decide what to change.
The organic version, in one paragraph
Feed the soil, not the blades: composted poultry litter and plant-based nitrogen instead of quick-release salts. Corn gluten instead of synthetic pre-emergent (and accept a few more weeds). Aerate every year; nothing helps clay like holes in it. Mow high, leave clippings, water deep and rarely. Scout for pests and treat what’s there with nematodes, oils and soaps. Lime by the test. And bring a battery mower, because the equipment is the other half of eco-friendly.
What moves these dates on your street
The calendar above is written for the north side of the Perimeter and it is close enough to plan a year around, but two yards on the same street can easily run three weeks apart. What is standing over the lawn is usually why. Under the old canopy in Brookhaven, November and December carry most of the year’s labor, and the leaves are worth more mulched into the lawn than hauled off it. Near the river in Sandy Springs it is the watering half of the calendar that changes, because what leaves a slope there reaches a creek in minutes rather than hours. The Dunwoody version, with the compaction work that has to happen before any of these months do much good, is on the eco-friendly lawn care page.
Two other things worth saying plainly. A month on this list that never quite gets done is not a discipline problem, it is the thing a maintenance plan exists to solve. And if the same low corner goes soft every spring whatever the month, none of these twelve entries will touch it, because that is drainage and grading rather than lawn care. On a commercial property the same twelve months get budgeted rather than remembered, which is a different document again.
Questions people ask
When should I fertilize Bermuda in Georgia? Late April through August, once it’s fully green. Never in fall.
When do I overseed fescue in Atlanta? Mid-September to mid-October, after core aeration.
When do I put down pre-emergent in Georgia? Late February and mid-September.
How often should I water? About an inch a week including rain, in one or two deep waterings, between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m.
Can I do all this myself? Yes, and plenty of people do. If you’d rather not, that is what our maintenance plans and treatment programmes are for.
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