Q. I would like schedule of month-to-month lawn care starting now. Thanks, Joe Miller – Puyallup, WA
A. Laying out a maintenance schedule for you would be more than I can fit in this column so I am going to refer you to a publication from Oregon State University titled Maintaining a Healthy Lawn in Western Oregon. Washington State University doesn’t have a publication with this kind of month-to-month data. Since the conditions of Western Oregon are quite similar to Western Washington this pamphlet can be used without alteration. It provides information on how many times (on average) you should mow each month, water each month (inches per week) as well as fertilization schedules and thatching times. This is a great starting point if you are new to taking care of a lawn but you should not use these as guidelines and starting points to get you started. Nothing can substitute for your own observation of lawn height (tells you when to mow), natural rainfall (tells you how much supplemental water to provide) and soil testing (tells you when and how much fertilizer to apply). Hopefully you are a regular reader and have seen some of the other lawn questions I have answered on moss control, de-thatching, et. al. Here is a link for the publication online: Maintaining a Healthy Lawn