Spring Lawn Care Checklist for North Georgia Homeowners

Your Spring Lawn Care Checklist Starts Now

If you own a home in Barrow County or anywhere in North Georgia, your lawn is waking up. What you do between late February and mid-May determines how your yard looks all the way through fall.

Here is the checklist we follow on every property we service in the spring.

1. Walk Your Property First

Before spending anything, take 15 minutes and look for bare spots, standing water, thatch buildup, and mower damage from last year. This tells you exactly where to focus.

If you notice water pooling in the same areas after rain, that usually points to a grading issue that will only get worse over time.

2. Aerate at the Right Time

Core aeration is the best thing you can do for compacted clay soil. It lets air, water, and nutrients reach the roots.

• Bermuda grass: Aerate late April through May, once nighttime temps stay above 65 degrees.
• Tall Fescue: Aerate in early fall (September to mid-October). Spring aeration works in a pinch, but avoid overseeding Fescue in spring since summer heat will kill new seedlings.

3. Apply Pre-Emergent on Time

This is the step most people skip or get wrong. Pre-emergent herbicide stops crabgrass and goosegrass before they sprout.

In Barrow County, the window is mid-February through mid-March, when soil temps hit 55 degrees at a 4-inch depth. Once you can see crabgrass, it is too late for pre-emergent.

A split application (half in early March, half in late April) gives you the longest coverage.

4. Fertilize Based on Your Grass Type

• Bermuda: Wait until it is fully green (mid-April to early May). Start with a balanced 16-4-8, then go higher-nitrogen for summer.
• Fescue: Light spring feeding in March is fine, but the real push should happen in September and November.

A $10 soil test from your local UGA Extension office in Winder tells you exactly what your lawn needs. It is worth it every time.

5. Refresh Your Mulch or Pine Straw

After winter, most beds have lost an inch or more of coverage. A fresh 3 to 4 inch layer of pine straw in March or April suppresses weeds, holds moisture, and makes the whole property look clean.

If your beds need more than a refresh, our landscape design team can handle new plantings and border redesigns as part of a spring project.

6. Start Up Your Irrigation System

Spring startup is more than flipping the controller back on. Run each zone manually and walk the property while it runs. Look for cracked heads, dry spots, and leaks near valve boxes.

Most North Georgia lawns need about 1 inch of water per week in spring and 1.5 inches in summer. Water deeply 2 to 3 times per week to build strong roots.

If you need repairs or a new system, our irrigation team handles everything from head replacements to full installs.

7. Set the Right Mowing Height

• Bermuda: 1 to 1.5 inches. Keep it short, but never cut more than a third of the blade at once.
• Fescue: 3.5 to 4 inches. Taller Fescue shades the soil and crowds out weeds. Cutting it short in Georgia will kill it fast.

Sharpen your blades before the first mow. Dull blades tear the grass and leave brown tips.

Get Your Spring Plan Started

The window for most of these steps is only a few weeks. If your lawn needs professional help this spring, whether that is aeration, weed treatment, pine straw, irrigation work, or a full maintenance program, we are ready.

E&E Lawn and Land Management serves Winder, Bethlehem, Auburn, Statham, and communities throughout Barrow County and surrounding North Georgia.

Call us at 678-858-5789 or request a free spring lawn assessment. We will walk your property, tell you what it needs, and give you a straight quote.