Questions of the Week: November 2, 2021

“Is it too late for these several gardening tasks?”

These are the questions folks have been asking me over the past week or two. Let me address them in short form here.

Questions you’re asking…

“Can I still plant new sod? Will it survive the winter?”

Bermudagrass sod has the best chance (nearly 100 percent) of surviving the winter in most of Texas if planted right now. Zoysia would probably be fine as well. St. Augustine is much more tender. You really ought to wait until mid-April to plant it. Soils are cooling rapidly now, and the grass just won’t establish as quickly as needed.

All things considered, if the choice were mine, I’d wait until April to plant all three.

“Can I still plant ryegrass seed now?”

Yes, but do so as soon as you can. Once it turns cooler/cold the seed will sit on top of the ground and wait until February to germinate. It will still look nice in the spring, but you will have lost much of the enjoyment of having green turf all winter.

“Is it too late to apply a glyphosate herbicide such as Roundup to kill grass and weeds where I want to plant a vegetable garden next spring?”

It’s not too late, but don’t put it off. Once the unwanted vegetation has been exposed to one frost or freeze it will turn brown and the glyphosate won’t do anything to control it. Glyphosates only enter through green leaf and stem tissues. Be careful, too, that your herbicide only contains glyphosate. There are combination products that contain other ingredients that can hang around in the soil longer than you want. Glyphosates are not active in the soil.

“Can I still plant mondograss as a groundcover where I’ve had trouble getting grass to grow due to shade?”

Yes. You can actually plant mondograss (“monkeygrass”) at any time the soil can be rototilled, 52 weeks a year.