Previous month in review
Just like last year, January once again delivered some extremes regarding moisture and cold. Hopefully, you took the necessary precautions, took care of any cold-sensitive plants, and protected your external pipes. Backflow preventers can be susceptible to cracking even when drained, so check those out in the next month or two and deal with any issues before the heat of summer sets in.
February – Action items for your lawn, landscape, and garden
Garden
Feb 14 is our “average last frost day” for the greater Houston area, with northern parts of Harris County and Montgomery County et al. seeing that date push back toward the end of the month. If you’re a home gardener, these dates are the jumping-off point for the spring garden. There are plenty of cool-season crops that you can begin working with now, and by the end of the month, you will also be working toward some warm-season plantings. Check out this chart for a handy resource for the best time to plant different crops.
At my house, we will start potatoes any day now. Lettuce will be seeded on a weekly basis for us; it is far superior to what you buy at the store. Tomatoes will go in the ground in the middle of the month if the 10-day forecast keeps us above freezing and there are no “arctic blasts” in the long-range prediction models. Then, March will see us transition toward warm-season crops in full earnest.
Lawn and Landscape
Despite 3” snow on the ground Tuesday and persisting in places for a few days. I am seeing green Bermudagrass at ground level already. This month is forecasted to kick off with days in the 70-degree range. The nights will still be cool, limiting the major seasonal shift from winter to spring in our lawns and landscape. However, don’t be surprised to see some color return to your brown dormant lawn this month. With all this said, the steps below will give your turf a strong start to the year.
Barricade or Dimension Pre-emergent is essential now to keep broadleaf and grassy weeds away. This treatment and another in 75-90 days will make a big difference if you have crabgrass.
If you have clover, it probably looked like the freeze knocked it out, but it will rebound quickly. I will have the Clover control plan at the end of this newsletter.
Fast-acting 15-5-10 fertilizer will get your yard greened up and strong early. Nitro Phos Imperial 15-5-10 is widely available and our choice here; they also make an organic alternative called “sweet green,” which is a good choice if you’re looking for that. Skip the “weed and feed.”
If you want to put down a pre-emergent in your landscape beds like “Preen,” now is the time to get it out and dress with fresh hardwood mulch.
Before you refresh that mulch, complete your landscape pruning. We want to prune the roses and crape myrtles in the middle of the month.
Stay Warm and Dry,
Hunter Soape
Clover action plan-
Identification

Photo credit- Texas AgriLife
Control methods-
We need to use different chemicals depending on what lawn grass you have.
Saint Augustine

Image Southern Lawn RTS
Broadleaf, large stolons (stems) above ground, in the majority of residential lawns
St Augustine Controls-
Spectracide Weedstop for St. Augustine lawns – Purple Label
Bermuda Grass

Bermuda Grass
A fine-textured leaf (1/8” across or less) with a very fine stem/runner has increased in popularity in the past 5-10 years but is a small portion of suburban residential lawns.
Zoysia grass- looks much like Bermuda and falls into the same chemical families to be used.
Treatment—You can use hose-end sprayers (the most straightforward method) or mix in a pump-up sprayer to treat. I have provided links to products at Lowe’s Hardware, but they can be found in many other stores.
Spectracide Weed Stop -Yellow Top
Now is the time to treat your clover. You need a 4-hour window without rain and preferably some sun. Don’t be surprised to see signs of plant stress in under 24 hours after treatment.
Also, treating while your grass is dormant is preferred; it is dormant right now and will be for at least the first few weeks of February. When your turf grass breaks dormancy as the temperatures warm, it is under much stress, and adding a herbicide adds more stress. Zoysia is very susceptible to herbicide stress in that stage. Cleaning up the clover now will improve the uniformity of your lawn in the spring, as the turf grass has less variability of sunlight and soil warming.