The Nashville lawn care calendar

For cool-season fescue lawns, early fall, roughly late August through October, is the ideal window in Middle Tennessee. The soil is still warm enough for germination while the air cools, and aeration relieves a summer's worth of compaction in our clay soil. Warm-season bermuda and zoysia are best aerated in late spring to early summer when actively growing.

Apply pre-emergent in late winter to early spring, before soil temperatures reach about 55°F (often early-to-mid March in Nashville). Timing is everything, too late and the crabgrass has already germinated.

Fall is the most important feeding for fescue, with a lighter application in early spring. Avoid heavy nitrogen after mid-March and during the peak summer heat, when it can stress or burn the grass.

Most Middle Tennessee lawns are either tall fescue (cool-season, stays green in winter, grows in spring and fall) or bermuda/zoysia (warm-season, greens up in summer, goes dormant and tan in winter). The care calendar differs for each, and we're happy to identify yours during an estimate.