Upper Midwest Home Lawn Care for Cool Season Grasses

This lawn care calendar is a guide to maintaining lawns in the upper Midwest. It covers the general care needed to adequately maintain an average home lawn. In these lawns, the density of grass plants is sufficient to completely cover the soil surface such that no part of the underlying soil is left exposed or visible. The calendar is not intended to cover all aspects of lawn care, nor to cover all different growing conditions that may exist on a specific property. For additional information, see the list of lawn care publications available from the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

Legend

Indicates times when lawn care practices can be done.

Indicates preferable times to carry out certain lawn care practices.

* Preemergence herbicides are put down before the crabgrass seedlings have emerged from the ground. Postemergence crabgrass herbicides are applied to the visible growing crabgrass plants. These products are best applied when the crabgrass plants are small.

"Used with permission of University of Minnesota Extension Service"

1Hull, R. J., Alm, S. R., and Jackson, N., Toward Sustainable Lawn Turf, in Handbook of Integrated Pest Management for Turf and Ornamentals, Leslie, A.R., Ed., Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL, 1994, chap. 1.