When to Mow in Birmingham: A Month-by-Month Lawn Calendar

Most lawns in the Birmingham area are warm-season grasses – Bermuda, Zoysia, centipede and St. Augustine. They sleep through winter, wake up in spring and grow fastest in the heat of summer. Here is how the mowing year usually goes in central Alabama.

Lawns are still mostly brown, but winter weeds are green and growing. This is the month for a spring cleanup: clear leaves, sticks and debris, and make a first low cut on Bermuda and Zoysia once the danger of a hard freeze is past (usually late March) to remove dead blades and let sunlight reach the soil.

Green-up happens through April. Once the grass is actively growing, start regular mowing – every other week at first, moving to weekly by the end of the month for Bermuda and Zoysia. Fescue lawns are at their best now; keep them at 3 to 4 inches.

Heat, humidity and summer storms make warm-season grass grow fast. Weekly mowing keeps you within the one-third rule – never remove more than a third of the blade at once. Skip a week in June and a Bermuda lawn can go from 1.5 to 4 inches; cutting it back down scalps the turf and leaves brown patches. Keep blades sharp, mow when the grass is dry and leave short clippings on the lawn to feed it.

As nights cool, growth slows. Most lawns can go back to every other week by mid-October. Raise the height slightly on the last few cuts so the grass goes into dormancy with a little more leaf.

Warm-season lawns turn tan after the first frost, usually in early November. Mowing mostly stops – the job now is keeping leaves off the lawn so they do not smother it, and an occasional pass to tidy winter weeds.

• Mar: cleanup, first low cut late in the month
• Apr: start mowing, bi-weekly → weekly
• May – Sep: weekly
• Oct: bi-weekly, a little taller
• Nov – Feb: leaf removal, occasional tidy-up

Want it done on schedule without thinking about it? Our weekly mowing service follows this calendar for you – get a free quote.