What to do with your lawn each month, and what not to. Written for subtropical Coast lawns by the two blokes who mow them every week.
📅Your lawn's year at a glance: how often to mow, month by month
🌦️Season-by-season jobs for Coast weather: wet summers, dry winters
📏Cut-height cheat sheet for buffalo, couch, kikuyu and zoysia
🐛When armyworm, bindii and winter grass show up, and what to do first
🚫The 5 lawn mistakes we fix every single week
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T-SQUARED SERVICESThe Lawn Calendar12 months of lawn care for the Sunshine Coast. Mowing, feeding, watering and weeds.
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Part 1 · The year at a glance
How hard your lawn is growing, month by month
Coast lawns are warm-season grasses. They sprint from late spring to early autumn when it is hot and wet, then almost stop when the nights cool off. Your mowing schedule should follow that curve, not the calendar on the fridge.
JAN7-10 days
FEB7-10 days
MAR7-10 days
APR10-14 days
MAY2-3 weeks
JUN3-4 weeks
JUL3-4 weeks
AUG3-4 weeks
SEP2-3 weeks
OCT10-14 days
NOV7-10 days
DEC7-10 days
Growth rateThis monthIntervals are for a typical sunny buffalo or couch lawn. Shade and dry soil stretch them out.
Part 2 · Season by season
What to do, and when
Four short checklists. Stick one on the fridge and you are ahead of most of the street.
🌱
Spring · Sep to Nov
Wake it up
First feed of the year once soil warms up (usually September). A slow-release lawn fertiliser, watered in.
Drop the height gradually. Take it down over two or three cuts, not one.
Sharpen or service the mower before the growth kicks in.
Top-dress bare patches with a thin layer of sandy soil so runners can fill in.
Kill winter weeds before they seed. Bindii and winter grass are much harder once they flower.
☀️
Summer · Dec to Feb
Keep up with it
Mow on schedule. This is peak growth. One missed cut can mean scalping on the next one.
Mow when it is dry. Wet grass clumps, tears and spreads fungus. Wait for the afternoon after a storm.
Water deep, not often. Early morning, a good soak once or twice a week beats a sprinkle every day.
Watch drainage in the wet season. Soggy low spots are where fungus and thin grass start.
Leave it slightly longer in heatwaves so the leaf shades the soil.
🍂
Autumn · Mar to May
Build it up
Watch for armyworm in late summer and autumn, often after rain. Brown patches that spread overnight are the tell.
Second feed in March or April helps the lawn go into winter thick and green.
Start raising the height as growth slows, so the lawn holds colour through winter.
Clean up leaf drop so it does not smother the grass underneath.
🧥
Winter · Jun to Aug
Ease off
Mow less, mow higher. Every 3 to 4 weeks is plenty for most lawns.
Spray bindii now, while it is small and before the prickles form in spring.
Go easy on water. Dry winters are normal. Water only when the leaf starts to curl.
Tidy edges and hedges. Slow months are the best time to reshape and clean up garden beds.
Part 3 · Cut-height cheat sheet
How high to cut your grass
Most lawn problems we see start with cutting too low. Find your grass, set the deck, and raise it a notch in winter and in shade.
Grass
How to spot it
Summer height
Winter / shade
Buffalo Sir Walter, Palmetto
Wide, soft, dark green blades
40-50mm
50-60mm
Couch Wintergreen, TifTuf
Fine blades, runners into the garden beds
20-30mm
30-40mm
Kikuyu
Thick, bright green, spreads hard
30-40mm
40-50mm
Zoysia Empire, Sir Grange
Dense, stiff, slow to grow
25-35mm
35-45mm
The golden rule for every grass: never take more than one third of the blade off in a single cut.
Part 4 · What not to do
5 mistakes we fix every week
Scalping to "save a mow"
Cutting extra low to stretch the gap does the opposite. The lawn goes yellow, weeds move into the bare soil, and it takes weeks to recover.
Mowing wet grass
It clumps, tears instead of cuts, ruts the soil and spreads fungal disease. On the Coast in summer, wait a few hours after the rain.
Blunt blades
If the tips look white or frayed a day after mowing, the blade is tearing the grass. Sharpen it at least once a season.
A little water every day
Shallow watering grows shallow roots. Water deeply and less often so the roots chase moisture down.
Feeding right before a storm
Heavy rain washes fertiliser straight off the lawn and into the stormwater. Feed when light rain is forecast, or water it in yourself.
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