Spring lawn care: the order matters more than the products

Spring is when Melbourne lawns wake up hungry, and when most lawn owners make their one big mistake of the year: marching out on the first warm September Saturday and fertilising a lawn that isn't growing yet. The grass can't use it. The weeds - which are wide awake - absolutely can. You've just paid to fertilise capeweed. So put the bag down and start with the weeds.

September: weeds and patience

The soil's still cold, warm-season lawns are just blinking awake. Two jobs:

• Kill the broadleaf weeds now, while they're soft, growing and easy to hit - and critically, before bindii sets the prickles that ruin January barefoot season. A selective broadleaf herbicide that suits your grass type does it in one pass. Not sure what your grass is? Check first - buffalo lawns need buffalo-safe products.
• Start mowing more often, stepping the height down gradually. From winter's high, infrequent cut toward the growing-season height over three or four mows - never in one drop. The rule of thirds applies to your own lawn too.

October: feed the flush

When the lawn is visibly growing - you're mowing fortnightly and it needs it - it can finally use a feed. A complete lawn fertiliser at label rates, watered in the same day. Slow-release costs more and repays it: six weeks of steady colour instead of a fortnight of fluoro green and a hungry crash. This first proper feed of the season does more for summer colour than anything you'll do in summer.

Late October to November: the once-a-year jobs

The lawn recovers fastest when it's growing hardest, which makes late spring the window for everything invasive:

• Dethatch or scarify if the lawn's gone spongy - the how and whether is here.
• Aerate the compacted runs and goal squares; a garden fork does small areas fine.
• Topdress hollows with a thin layer of sandy loam - never burying the leaf entirely.
• Repair the patches while there's a whole summer of growing ahead: runners knit in, seed establishes, turf takes. The full method's in the patchy lawn guide.

All spring: mow like you mean it

The October flush is real - a fed kikuyu lawn in a wet Melbourne spring can put on a mow's worth of growth in a week. Fortnightly is the minimum through the flush; weekly for a few weeks isn't excessive, and regular cuts with a third off each time build the dense, tight lawn that resists summer weeds all by itself. It's also when every mower in Melbourne is at their busiest. If you'd rather the spring flush was someone else's cardio, a fortnightly round booked in September costs 10-15% less per visit than one-off panic mows and survives the busy season without you chasing anyone.

Heading into December

Shift the mower up a notch as the real heat arrives (taller grass shades its own roots), and move watering to the deep-and-rare pattern so the roots go down before February tests them. A lawn that got the spring sequence right mostly looks after itself through summer.

Quick answers

When should I fertilise my lawn in spring?

October, once the lawn is visibly growing and you are mowing fortnightly because it needs it. Feed in early September and the grass cannot use it but the capeweed can. Slow-release gives six weeks of steady colour instead of a fortnight of fluoro green.

When should I kill weeds in spring?

September, while broadleaf weeds are soft and growing and before bindii sets the prickles that ruin January. A selective herbicide that suits your grass type does it in one pass; buffalo lawns need buffalo-safe products.

How often should I mow in spring?

Fortnightly is the minimum through the October flush and weekly for a few weeks is not excessive. Step the height down from winter's high cut over three or four mows, never in one drop, and take a third off each time.