I do nothing to my yard till about the 1st of April.

I recall about 15 years ago, we had NO Winter weather. A few chilly nights but nothing close to a freeze. Around a week into March, I pruned everything, fertilized the yard and sided a bare patch. It all kicked in and looked green as can be. The LAST day of March, we had our one and ONLY freeze. It FRIED my yard. Not a week or two later, we got HOT N DRY and stayed that way till mid June. My yard looked like CRAP most of the Summer.