Sunshine Coast lawn care calendar: what to do to your lawn, season by season

By Isaac Cunningham · 5 Sep 2026 · 7 min read

Lawn advice written for Melbourne or Sydney doesn't survive contact with a Coast summer. Here's the calendar we work to across Caloundra, Kawana and the hinterland — what to do, when, and the two or three things that actually make the difference.

First, know what you're mowing

Most Sunshine Coast lawns are one of four warm-season grasses, and they want slightly different treatment:

• Soft-leaf buffalo — the most common on newer estates. Broad leaf, shade-tolerant, hates being scalped. Mow at 40–60 mm.
• Couch — fine leaf, loves full sun, fast to repair. Mow low, 20–35 mm, and it thickens up.
• Zoysia — dense, slow-growing, very tidy once established. 30–45 mm.
• Kikuyu — vigorous, invasive, thrives on neglect and runs into every garden bed. 30–50 mm, edged hard.

Whatever the grass, the one rule that matters most: never take off more than a third of the leaf in a single mow. Scalping is how a lawn goes from green to patchy in a week.

Spring · September to November

Growth switches back on once the soil warms — usually mid-September on the Coast. This is the most important six weeks of the year.

• Fertilise as soon as the lawn is actively growing again. A slow-release lawn fertiliser now sets up the whole summer.
• Dethatch couch and kikuyu if the lawn feels spongy underfoot — a hard, low mow or a scarify, then a feed and water. Don't scalp buffalo.
• Repair bare patches now, while there's a full season of growth ahead to knit them in.
• Mowing moves to fortnightly by October, and the mower deck comes down a notch from the winter height.

Summer · December to February

Heat, humidity and afternoon storms. The lawn grows faster than you can mow it, and so do the things that eat it.

• Mow weekly or fortnightly, and mow higher. A slightly longer leaf shades the soil, holds moisture and out-competes weeds.
• Watch for lawn armyworm and sod webworm from January onward. The tell-tale sign is a patch that goes brown in days, often starting near a fence or light, and small moths flying up when you walk across the lawn at dusk. Treat early — they can strip a lawn in a week.
• Water deeply and early in the morning if the storms haven't done it for you. Evening watering in this humidity invites fungal disease.
• Clear storm debris off the lawn quickly — palm fronds and branches left for a fortnight leave yellow ghosts behind.

Autumn · March to May

• Second fertilise in March or early April. This is the feed that carries the lawn through winter looking green instead of tired.
• Armyworm is still active through March and April. Keep checking.
• Last window for repairs. Top-dress low spots and patch bare areas before the growth slows in May.
• Ease off the water as the nights cool.

Winter · June to August

Warm-season grasses slow right down. The temptation is to keep mowing on the summer schedule; don't.

• Mow every three to four weeks, and raise the height a notch. A longer winter leaf keeps the lawn greener and shades out winter weeds.
• Deal with bindii in June and July, while it's a small flat rosette and before it sets the prickly seed. Once you can feel it underfoot in spring, it's already gone to seed for next year.
• No fertiliser. The lawn can't use it and it feeds the weeds instead.
• Watch shade creep. Winter sun sits lower; hedges and trees that were fine in summer now shade the lawn all day. That's what causes the thin, mossy patch on the south side of the house. Crown-lift or trim in late winter so the lawn gets spring sun.

The three things that actually matter

1. Mow at the right height, often enough. This does more than any product.
2. Feed twice: spring and autumn. Not four times, not never.
3. Catch armyworm and bindii early. The two problems that turn a good lawn into a bad one in a fortnight.

Common questions