What Your Lawn Needs This Month: March 2026

This is part of our monthly lawn care series. Check back each month for updated guidance tailored to what your lawn actually needs right now.

March is when things start to get real. Depending on where you live, your lawn is either waking up, already growing, or still frozen solid. That's the thing about March lawn care — there's no one-size-fits-all answer. What your neighbor in Georgia is doing right now is completely different from what someone in Wisconsin should be thinking about.

Here's what matters for your lawn this month, broken down by zone so you can skip straight to the part that applies to you.

What to Do in March (The Short Version)

If you're in a warmer zone (8–9), March is go time. Pre-emergent should be down, and you're probably already mowing. If you're in the transition zone (6–7), this is your prep month — get your pre-emergent ready and watch soil temps. If you're up north (4–5), sit tight. Your lawn isn't ready yet, and that's perfectly fine.

The biggest priority this month across all zones is timing your pre-emergent. This is the single most impactful thing you can do in spring. Pre-emergent herbicide creates a barrier in the soil that stops weed seeds (especially crabgrass) from sprouting. Miss this window and you'll be pulling weeds by hand all summer. If you're not sure when to apply it, check out our spring lawn care schedule for the full breakdown.

March Lawn Care by Zone

Zones 4–5 (Upper Midwest, New England, Northern Plains): You're still in waiting mode. Snow might still be on the ground, and soil temps are well below 55°F. Use this time to tune up your mower — sharpen or replace the blade, change the oil, and check the air filter. If the snow has melted, walk the yard and look for any damage from winter (salt damage near driveways, snow mold patches, vole trails). Don't apply anything yet. Your grass is still asleep.

Zones 6–7 (Mid-Atlantic, Central Midwest, Transition Zone): March is your launch month. Soil temps are climbing toward 55°F, and you should be watching closely. Once you see forsythia buds starting to open or your soil thermometer is reading around 50°F and climbing, get your pre-emergent down. You want it in the ground before soil hits 55°F, since that's when crabgrass starts germinating. If you've got cool-season grass (fescue, bluegrass), it's starting to green up and may need its first mow by late March. Warm-season lawns (bermuda, zoysia) are still dormant — don't touch them yet.

Zones 8–9 (Deep South, Gulf Coast, Parts of California): You should already be in action. Pre-emergent should have gone down in late February or early March. Your warm-season grass is greening up, and you're likely mowing every week or two. If you haven't started your March lawn care routine yet, get that pre-emergent down now — crabgrass germinates fast when soil temps pass 65°F. A light fertilizer application is fine if your grass is actively growing.

What to Buy This Month

You don't need to spend a fortune. Here are the three things worth picking up in March:

Pre-emergent herbicide. This is non-negotiable. Look for products with prodiamine or dithiopyr as the active ingredient. Granular is easiest to apply — you just need a broadcast spreader. If your pre-emergent includes a light fertilizer, even better.

A fresh mower blade. If you didn't replace yours last fall, now's the time. A sharp blade makes a clean cut, which keeps your grass healthier and looking better. Most blades cost under fifteen dollars and take ten minutes to swap.

A balanced fertilizer (zones 8–9 only). If you're in a warm zone and your grass is already growing, a light application of a balanced or nitrogen-forward fertilizer gives it a boost as it comes out of dormancy. Don't grab a "starter" fertilizer — those are high in phosphorus and designed for new seed or sod, not established lawns. Zones 6–7, hold off on fertilizing until April at the earliest.

What You Can Skip

Here's the stuff you don't need to worry about in March:

Overseeding. March isn't the right time for most areas. For cool-season grasses, fall is far better for seeding. For warm-season grasses, wait until late spring when soil temps are consistently above 65°F.

Core aeration. Save this for fall (cool-season) or late spring (warm-season). Aerating now, especially in colder zones, just stresses a lawn that isn't ready for it.

Weed spraying. If you time your pre-emergent right, you won't need to spot-spray weeds for a while. And spraying broadleaf herbicides on a lawn that's barely awake is a waste. Wait until your grass is actively growing so it can fill in any gaps left by dead weeds.

Worrying about brown patches. If your warm-season lawn looks brown in March, that's normal. It's dormant. It'll green up when it's ready. Don't panic and don't throw fertilizer at it.

Looking Ahead to April

April is when the real work kicks in for most of the country. Zones 4–5 will finally be applying pre-emergent. Zones 6–7 will be into their regular mowing schedule. And zones 8–9 will be ramping up watering as temperatures climb.

Next month we'll cover April's full breakdown — what to do, what to buy, and what to skip.

---

Want all of this personalized for your zip code? Get your free lawn plan — it takes about 30 seconds, and you'll know exactly what your lawn needs this month and every month after.