Gardening This Weekend: September 12, 2024
Here’s my list of the things that matter most for the middle of September. Hopefully you can get them all done in time that you can watch your favorite team over the weekend.
PLANT
• Mums, petunias, Joseph’s coat, fall asters, Mexican bush sage, and other dependable sources of color for your fall garden.
• Ryegrass to overseed established turf. “Perennial” rye (isn’t really perennial here in Texas) is finer-textured and more handsome. It germinates more uniformly and requires fewer mowings. However, its seed costs a good bit more, so most people overseed with annual rye. Rye is also the way to cover bare ground until you can plant your permanent turf in late spring.
• Fescue to overseed or start new fescue lawns. Do not overseed bermuda or St. Augustine with fescue (can’t get rid of it easily – it is perennial).
• Sow wildflower seeds for spring bloom. If you’re planting bluebonnets, buy acid-treated (“scarified”) seeds for best germination. Sow into lightly prepared soil where there is no competition from turf.
PRUNE
• Lawn to maintain recommended height. Allowing grass to grow taller does not improve its vigor or winter hardiness. It actually weakens it.
• Browned foliage and spent flowers, seeds from perennials.
• Dead or damaged branches from trees before they start losing leaves. It’s still easy to tell them apart.
FERTILIZE
• Fall feedings are critical for turfgrass. Apply all-nitrogen fertilizer (30 to 40 percent of that nitrogen in slow-release form) unless soil test instructs otherwise. Product may be labeled as “winterizer,” but it could very likely be the same analysis as your spring and summer food.
• Summer annual flowers and foliage plants with water-soluble, all-nitrogen food to stimulate one last burst of growth.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Lawns will begin to sport small lavender-white, daisy-like flowers atop low-growing, clump-forming weeds. That is roadside aster, and in spite of its tiny leaves, it fits into the category of “broadleafed” weeds since it isn’t a grass. Products containing the herbicide 2,4-D will kill it but read and follow label directions before buying and applying it. Take better care of your turfgrass and it will probably crowd the weed out next year.
• Brown patch (now also being called “large patch”) may begin to show up in St. Augustine in next couple of weeks. Patches will be 18 to 24 inches across and circular. Blades will pull loose from runners without resistance. Azoxystrobin is labeled for patch disease control including this one.
• Webworms in Texas pecans, walnuts, persimmons, mulberries and other trees currently. Spraying is impractical. Do not try to burn them (extremely hazardous). Long-handled pole pruners are probably your best solution, or just ignore them. They will fall to the ground over the winter. The trees will be fine.
• Watch patio pots for insects if you intend to bring the plants into your house or greenhouse over the winter. It’s easier to control the pests while the plants are still outdoors.
• Fire ant mounds following rains. Colonies will build their mounds above grade to avoid drowning, and that greatly increases the risk of our encountering the ants and being stung by the aggressive pests. Area wide baits are available that will give good control for 3 to 9 months. Individual mound treatments will give quick kill of bothersome mounds that are near areas of pedestrian traffic.