Lawn care follows the grass, not the calendar. Warm-season grasses like couch, kikuyu, soft leaf buffalo and zoysia grow hard from late spring to autumn and slow down or go dormant in winter. This calendar suits Sydney and much of the east coast; Brisbane runs warmer, Melbourne and inland areas cooler.
What should you do each month?
| Month | Main jobs |
|---|---|
| September | First feed as the lawn greens up. Weed control. Service the mower. |
| October | Scarify or dethatch. Top dress hollows. Sow couch seed in bare patches. |
| November | Mow weekly. Deep watering in dry spells. Wetting agent on dry patches. |
| December | Mow often, raise the height in heat waves, water early in the morning. |
| January | Summer care. Watch for lawn grubs and dry patch. |
| February | Keep mowing and watering. Light feed if the lawn is pale. |
| March | Autumn feed. Keep up weed control. |
| April | Last feed before the slowdown. Optional ryegrass oversow for winter colour. |
| May | Raise the mowing height. Clear leaves. |
| June | Rest. Mow rarely. Treat winter weeds like bindii while small. |
| July | Rest. Keep off frosty grass. |
| August | Late winter clean-up. Rake out dead material as growth returns. |
What does the app’s calendar show?
What a Green Lawn builds a week-by-week task list from the lawn’s location, grass type and mowing height, with the seasons flipped for the southern hemisphere. For a lawn in Sydney, the week of 7 September looks like this:
For a warm-season lawn the calendar puts feeding from October to March, weed control at the start of each month from September to April, scarifying and oversowing bare spots in October, a winter colour oversow in April, a spring clean-up in August, leaf clearing in May and a soil pH check in April. The quiet week in early September is the calm before the October workload.
Which weed control can you use?
Everything you apply must be registered with the APVMA and used as the label says, and many selective herbicides suit only certain grasses, especially buffalo. Check that the product lists your lawn type. Winter is the time for bindii, before it sets prickly seeds.
How do you adjust the calendar to your area?
Watch the grass and the soil, not the date. Warm-season seed needs soil of at least 18°C, see soil temperature for lawns. See also when to fertilise your lawn and, for acidic coastal soils, lime on your lawn.
What a Green Lawn turns this calendar into weekly tasks for your own lawn, with the forecast and soil estimate on the same screen.