For much of the winter, grass goes dormant to survive the cool temperatures, but by late spring, you should once again have a lush, green lawn that looks good for summer. So, what are you to do if your lawn isn’t as green as you expect — or if it isn’t green at all?

There are a few reasons grass can fail to green up properly come springtime. If you are starting to get concerned about your lawn’s health in late spring, the following guide should give you some tips for how to help your less-than-green grass.

Check Your Grass Species

There are two main types of grass: cool-season grasses and warm-season grasses. Cool-season grasses thrive in parts of the world that experience harsh winders and mild summers, like the American Northeast and Midwest. These grasses can grow roots in soil temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and they thrive up top in temps between 60 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, which are most plentiful in fall and spring. After their dormancy in winter, cool-season grasses tend to promptly wake up in springtime to take advantage of the cooler weather. If you have any type of fescue, ryegrass or bluegrass, you have a cool-season grass that should be alive and thriving by now.

Conversely, warm-season grasses grow in hotter climates, where the summer is more intense and the fall, winter and spring are more moderate. Grasses like bermudagrass, zoysiagrass and St. Augustinegrass prefer to grow when soil temperatures reach 70 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which is typically when air temperatures hover between 80 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Because the South and the Southwest typically don’t enjoy these relatively hot temperatures until late-late spring or summer, it makes sense that the grass here remains dormant for much of spring. If you have a warm-season grass, you don’t need to worry — yet.

Check Your Soil Temperature

If your lawn is green and gorgeous in some parts but frustratingly dormant in other parts, soil temperature might be to blame. As mentioned above, warm-season grasses will only start to grow when the soil is rather toasty, and even cool-season grasses struggle to grow when the soil is close to freezing. Though it might feel like warm springtime in the sun, the shadier areas of your lawn might not have soil temperatures within the appropriate range to wake up that section of grass. You should use a soil thermometer or hire a professional like TruGreen lawn care services to test the temps of your soil in various parts of your lawn, so you can potentially eliminate temperature as a cause.

Feed Your Lawn

Grass needs at least one annual feeding to enjoy the right amount of nutrients to grow strong and full. Most experts advocate fertilizing in the fall with a high-phosphorus grass food blend, which encourages strong root growth to keep your lawn healthy in its dormant state. However, if you skipped fall fertilizing, your grass might be in desperate need of something to eat. Now that you are trying to facilitate green, leafy growth, you should opt for a blend that is high in nitrogen. This will wake your grass up and ensure you get a speedy, lush lawn in no time — given that you aren’t experiencing other lawn problems.

Look for Lawn Pests

Plants aren’t the only thing waking up after winter. Pests also come out to play during springtime, and many of them want to use your lawn as a food source or shelter. A pest infestation will so extreme damage to your lawn, perhaps preventing it from reviving at the right time. Unfortunately, there are too many different kinds of lawn pests to list all of their symptoms here. Typically, if your lawn seems dead or dormant in a pattern, if it is an odd color like white or pink or if you can see bugs or grubs in your lawn, you probably need professional pest control.

Seed Your Lawn

As a living thing, grass can die. In fact, grass is particularly susceptible to dead during its dormancy over winter, when it cannot repair itself after a major shock like an intense freeze, extreme soil compaction or some other crisis. It’s possible that during the winter your lawn did die, and no amount of fertilizing or pest controlling will bring it back to life. In this case, your only choice is to reseed — but this does give you the opportunity to choose a lawn type that better suits your soil and climate.

When a lawn lingers in dormancy and doesn’t wake up with the first hints of spring, you don’t need to panic. Still, you should take steps to understand why your lawn isn’t thriving, in case it is an issue that time won’t solve.