2021 Lawn and Garden

[drt 640]

Guess we can get this started. Is it time for pre-emergent? Feels like the grass is going to start growing any day now in Austin. 

[Post Oak 20278]

Yep. And what should I do about thistle?

 

[Walden Ponderer 12639]

I'm going to cheat a little withe the hugulkultur berms this year -- in addition to silt sludge from our pond, with lotes of fingerling fertilizer, I'm goin to go ahead and hal in about a to of compost. Shortcut, yes, bur I can afford it so why not?

[kmac30 416]

What is a good pre emergent? I have been using barricade but it seems to suck. I need something that will keep crab grass at bay.

[texasdago 7581]

This week's cold snap is going to wreck shop  

[BonzoMontreaux 1101]

Bermuda grass...Battling white clover already.  Live in Buda\Kyle\SM area.  I have hit it with Ortho WeedClear a couple of times.  Last time back in December.  Sprouting back up in treated areas.  Used to dealing with St. Augustine.

Any suggestions?

 

[drt 640]

I use Halts for pre, but am by no means an expert.

[texasdago 7581]

Picked up some MicroLife fertilizer to use in general to help the yard/garden recover and ordered some concentrated liquid seaweed stuff

[Both Tacos 1806]

This is the first year I started seeds indoors. The got leggy due to getting a grow light on them late but replanted the tomatoes today deeper so they can get strong roots. That is really the only plant I wanted to make sure to start early to get some huge beefsteak tomatoes. I've had pots of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and strawberries that went in the ground today. I bought them 2 weeks ago but with the temps and snow I didn't put them in until now.

[NorthLoop 14251]

We're moving into a new house this May so I won't be able to go full out this year.  A few potted japs and tomatoes at most.  Will probably start in a couple weeks. 

[1978horn 896]

The cold snap did a number on my lawn.  Full disclaimer, I know nothing about it other than mowing.  I have a company that is usually pretty good and has helped keep the weeds away.  

I am now reading that with St. Augustine not to put pre-emergent down right now because it will stress the grass even more after all the damn cold days.  The company is supposed to come out tomorrow to apply pre-emergent so I want to get ahead of it and just pass.   Any thoughts?

I am just hoping that it makes it through so I don't have to sod.

[hornian 5226]

Time for me to join this thread. Had St. Augustine installed last summer/fall. It is completely brown (not just kinda brown it had been all summer) after the snow. I expect it will come back - but what, if anything, should I be doing now for the lawn?

I have a Rachio Sprinkler controller, and they keep trying to get me to buy their "Rachio Thrive" which is some sort of spray on fertilizer/nutrients, etc. Seems like a gimmick but what the hell do I know?

[1978horn 896]

10 minutes ago, hornian said:

Time for me to join this thread. Had St. Augustine installed last summer/fall. It is completely brown (not just kinda brown it had been all summer) after the snow. I expect it will come back - but what, if anything, should I be doing now for the lawn?

I have a Rachio Sprinkler controller, and they keep trying to get me to buy their "Rachio Thrive" which is some sort of spray on fertilizer/nutrients, etc. Seems like a gimmick but what the hell do I know?

I am also hearing on top of no pre emergent that also limit watering right now since that could stress it too.  I have no idea.  

[HiggyBaby 2547]

My lawn seems to be ok. It’s mostly Bermuda with a side patch of St Augustine. Guess we shall see in a month or so what’s what.

My bigger concern is my landscaping. A few specimen plants I have don’t look good but they can be replaced.
Its the anchor bushes that don’t look good. Those take time to get current size. The branches are still flexible so I’m hoping it’s ok.

Indian Hawthornes:



Loropetalum:

[GRHorn 105]

My Indian Hawthornes look a little bit better. More concerning are the ligustrums we have around the perimeter of the property. Took a while to grow to their current size. Most of them barely holding on. Pretty disappointing 

[Paper_jam 838]

I also have some big Indian Hawthornes that look like complete shit. I never even thought about protecting them because I've never had them freeze before. Actually everything else in my yard (st. augustine, my oaks) looks like shit too. 

 

[HiggyBaby 2547]

My Indian Hawthornes look a little bit better. More concerning are the ligustrums we have around the perimeter of the property. Took a while to grow to their current size. Most of them barely holding on. Pretty disappointing 

Maybe those are ligustrums. I’m just guessing on the big purple ones. But I’m holding out hope.

[GRHorn 105]

😭

[woohorn 1131]

Damn, those are TORCHED. Sorry bud!

[Horn Draoi 256]

I finally burned up my old Craftsman 19.2V electric trimmer yesterday morning, so went to Home Depot and bought a 40V Ryobi. Out to test this morning; heavy as hell, powerful like a locomotive!  Wore my 67 y/o candy ass out in about 45 minutes and still had 1/4 charge left on high speed.  Charge, nap, run trimmer, repeat.  Hope i didn’t buy more electric trimmer than I can handle...........

[swraith 347]

2 of my 5 Texas Sage (Cenizo) appear to have not survived. Weirdly they are the 2 largest and oldest. No signs of green anywhere. The other 3 have been pushing out green leaves for 2+ weeks.

St Aug is starting to perk up.

I age started to out down some supplemental water. We appear to be very dry, behind in rainfall.

I’m really hoping we don’t have a 2011 summer that followed our dev attic blast this year ...like the one that followed our 2011 feb winter.

[heso 2816]

Why did my tomato plants start turning yellow about a week after we transplanted them from a seed tray into small pots?



That was a few days ago and they’ve continued to get more yellow.

The roots are growing and have grown out through the pots in a number of places.

Edited April 19, 2021 by heso

[NorthLoop 14251]

Lack of water? That soil looks dry

[heso 2816]

20 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

Lack of water? That soil looks dry

It was dry on top when I took that pick but I thought maybe my daughter is watering them too much. Seems like the containers are perpetually soggy. 

[NorthLoop 14251]

That's probably it then... get em into bigger pots with some good draining potting soil (mix some perlite in there) and it'll be hard to overwater them.  Or plant them already if you're going into the ground. 

Edited April 19, 2021 by NorthLoop

[Spaulding Smails 1555]

That was going to be my thought as well.  Too much water.  Those little biodegradable containers are awesome, but they tend to hold moisture more than the plastic ones.

[heso 2816]

Thanks. I’ll get them repotted and see how they do. I’m still a few weeks away from being able to get them into the ground. In zone 6b and we’re projected for a little snow later this week. 

[Gourmand 7774]

Thanks for updating the year, wasn't sure if I should put this question here or in the 3 year old Lawn and Garden thread....

Weeds are a sumbitch this spring and most of my neighbors have weed infested lawns overtaking their bermuda. My yard is probably the first or second best on the block and I'd like to keep it that way. I've already applied two split applications of prodiamine preemergent, an application of milorganite, and also sprayed quinclorac (mainly for crabgrass and other shit drifting from my neighbor's yard) a couple of weeks ago. I've also sprayed a liquid aeration treatment and chelated iron so overall my yard is coming along nicely. However, this weekend I noticed an outbreak of an unaffected broadleaf weed in my back yard that needed to get nuked, so I did a spot spray with Weed B Gon concentrate. I'm pretty sure the weed is swinecress and the smell seems to jibe with its description. It spread like crazy so I want to get rid of it as fast as possible.

My question is about the growth in my back yard because even though it's green, it's not really growing much. I have areas of growth but overall when I mow I can't really even tell where I've mowed. Is this expected with the combination of pre/post emergent treatments or should I push it with fertilizer and water? Topsoil and peat?

[Post Oak 20278]

I put a few bags of alfalfa pellets on my yard last week.  I'm excited to see what happens after this rain.

[Gourmand 7774]

On 4/23/2021 at 3:37 PM, Post Oak said:

I put a few bags of alfalfa pellets on my yard last week.  I'm excited to see what happens after this rain.

What sized bags and where did you buy them?

I've wondered about replacing milorganite with it on my lawn, or maybe just in the new landscape bed I planted, but we have a rabbit issue in our neighborhood and it seems like alfalfa pellets would attract every rabbit within a mile....

Edited April 25, 2021 by Gourmand

[cactusflinthead 27606]

have areas of growth but overall when I mow I can't really even tell where I've mowed. Is this expected with the combination of pre/post emergent treatments or should I push it with fertilizer and water? Topsoil and peat?

Fertilizer and water.

[HiggyBaby 2547]

Two questions here:

1) my Indian hawthorns are sloooooowly coming back. I don’t think I want to wait xx years for them to return to their former glory. I want to replace them and have ruled out several plants including more hawthorns, box woods and lingstrums. Any thoughts on the Rhaphiolepis family? I would have to keep it trimmed down a little below it’s max size. Happened to see some over at the landscaping place.




2) my oak apparently did not like the freeze and looks like shit. Was going to have someone come out and trim it up and move on. Any problem with this? Should I give it time to grow over the summer and then trim it?

[hornian 5226]

3 hours ago, HiggyBaby said:

2) my oak apparently did not like the freeze and looks like shit. Was going to have someone come out and trim it up and move on. Any problem with this? Should I give it time to grow over the summer and then trim it?

I would like to know  the answer to this one. Have one oak that looks like this at my office. 

[freyguy 4305]

All of em look like this.  I'm going to wait a year before doing something 

[Chapo 104]

My dining area is facing my side yard which quite narrow (~8'). Unfortunately, the neighbor's son 2nd floor bedroom has a window with direct sight into our house. I was thinking to plant something tall there but it is made more complicated because there is french drain down the fence line. So I'm wondering what would be able to grow to about <12' in a pot. I was thinking some version of crepe myrtle, thoughts?

[smoothlonghorn 85]

First and foremost, I am an idiot when it comes to any of this kind of stuff...

That out of the way, wife* and I purchased a home a few months ago that had what we thought were just some type of nasty weeds in the front entrance area (dirt + mulch + potted plants + these "weeds"). With the recent rain, we thought we would tackle pulling them up....and the "stumps" (for lack of a better term) are clearly for something more sinister than ordinary weeds. Anyone recognize what these could be and/or if we should be worried about damaging anything if we do try to pull them up? I wasn't really raised with yards/plants/etc., so I'm still trying figure these things out as I go...

* And yes, this being Shaggy/Surly, feel free to insert your "have your husband take care of it and then post here" comments <here>...

[mr. sunshine 2833]

Last week’s final ‘21 harvest. I think 

[BillyBadAss 189]

Not sure if we need a new thread for 2022, or rather just a "forever" lawn thread .. above my pay grade. 

Anyway, I'll ask here. Contractors left a big pile of sand at my house. Would it be good, bad, or indifferent if I spread it out over the lawn. 

I have typical Austin rocky soil, St Augustine grass. Some areas seem to have a lot of clay, others less so from my experience digging in it.. 

Thanks. 

[TexPx 2325]

Not sure if we need a new thread for 2022, or rather just a "forever" lawn thread .. above my pay grade. 
Anyway, I'll ask here. Contractors left a big pile of sand at my house. Would it be good, bad, or indifferent if I spread it out over the lawn. 
I have typical Austin rocky soil, St Augustine grass. Some areas seem to have a lot of clay, others less so from my experience digging in it.. 
Thanks. 

https://topyarddesign.com/lawn-yard/why-put-sand-on-lawn/
Probably depends on how much.

[cactusflinthead 27606]

On 5/3/2021 at 6:14 PM, HiggyBaby said:

Two questions here:

1) my Indian hawthorns are sloooooowly coming back. I don’t think I want to wait xx years for them to return to their former glory. I want to replace them and have ruled out several plants including more hawthorns, box woods and lingstrums. Any thoughts on the Rhaphiolepis family? I would have to keep it trimmed down a little below it’s max size. Happened to see some over at the landscaping place.




2) my oak apparently did not like the freeze and looks like shit. Was going to have someone come out and trim it up and move on. Any problem with this? Should I give it time to grow over the summer and then trim it?

Roll the bones if you want Rhaphiolepis again. The umbellata white isn't any more cold hardy than the pink indica. It might last 20 years but then again it might freeze out next year.

On 5/3/2021 at 10:00 PM, hornian said:

I would like to know  the answer to this one. Have one oak that looks like this at my office. 

Did you clean them up? A lot of live oaks didn't make it.

On 5/5/2021 at 3:38 PM, freyguy said:

All of em look like this.  I'm going to wait a year before doing something 

How about yours? See any green up in those dead areas?

On 5/8/2021 at 7:52 PM, Chapo said:

My dining area is facing my side yard which quite narrow (~8'). Unfortunately, the neighbor's son 2nd floor bedroom has a window with direct sight into our house. I was thinking to plant something tall there but it is made more complicated because there is french drain down the fence line. So I'm wondering what would be able to grow to about <12' in a pot. I was thinking some version of crepe myrtle, thoughts?

Think trellis. Posts of some sort and pick your plane. Pre-fab to hand twisted wrought iron. It's your budget. Vines and things to cover it is easy.

On 12/19/2021 at 10:45 AM, smoothlonghorn said:

First and foremost, I am an idiot when it comes to any of this kind of stuff...

That out of the way, wife* and I purchased a home a few months ago that had what we thought were just some type of nasty weeds in the front entrance area (dirt + mulch + potted plants + these "weeds"). With the recent rain, we thought we would tackle pulling them up....and the "stumps" (for lack of a better term) are clearly for something more sinister than ordinary weeds. Anyone recognize what these could be and/or if we should be worried about damaging anything if we do try to pull them up? I wasn't really raised with yards/plants/etc., so I'm still trying figure these things out as I go...

* And yes, this being Shaggy/Surly, feel free to insert your "have your husband take care of it and then post here" comments <here>...

That's a pear tree. It's nearly out of the ground. Any strays that re-emerge can be dealt with harshly.

On 2/10/2022 at 4:21 PM, BillyBadAss said:

Not sure if we need a new thread for 2022, or rather just a "forever" lawn thread .. above my pay grade. 

Anyway, I'll ask here. Contractors left a big pile of sand at my house. Would it be good, bad, or indifferent if I spread it out over the lawn. 

I have typical Austin rocky soil, St Augustine grass. Some areas seem to have a lot of clay, others less so from my experience digging in it.. 

Thanks. 

That big pile won't last long getting spread over the yard. It goes faster than you might think. Try not to bury the St. A runners over a half an inch or so.

Edited February 19, 2022 by cactusflinthead

[kangsta 50]

I am hoping it's not too late to apply preemergent in Austin (St. Augustine).  

Assuming it is not, any recommendations on a good product for spring application that doesn't cost a fortune? 

Apologies as I'm sure there are recommendations in the 2018 thread, but I thought maybe there is something new out now..  

[hornian 5226]

22 minutes ago, kangsta said:

I am hoping it's not too late to apply preemergent in Austin (St. Augustine).  

Assuming it is not, any recommendations on a good product for spring application that doesn't cost a fortune? 

Apologies as I'm sure there are recommendations in the 2018 thread, but I thought maybe there is something new out now..  

Following, and piggybacking.

I have a lot of crushed granite, and last year crabgrass grew in it. I'd like to put some premergent on the crushed granite if possible to keep that from happening this year. Is anything out there for that?

[Chico_SA 521]

Found these in/on the ground in an area of my St.Augustine where I’m having trouble controlling oak shoots. Thousands of gnats emerging from these clusters and just hanging around the ground. Only seems to be happening where the oak shoots are. Not where the grass is more dominant. What the hell are they?


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