The wife and I relocated to Houston from Colorado and moved into a rental home. We plan on being here for a year or two while we save up for our first home. Currently the lawn is in rough shape front and back. I'm mainly worried about improving the backyard. Tons of weeds with some decent spots of St Augustine that either ran from the neighbors or survived the years. It's in full sun with a few crape Myrtle trees along the fence. In the front yard there's barely anything. There's two large live oak trees that shade pretty much the whole yard. Root system is exposed too (Landlord said they came up during one of the bad droughts). I'm not looking to lay sod or spend exorbitant amounts of money since I dont own the home. I don't mind dropping some money but the homeowner doesn't seem too interested in improving it so cost will be on me. What are our thoughts on this? More worried about the backyard so advice would be more appreciated there.

Based on your 2 year timeline, if you're going to stick with St. Augustine it will take that long to get the backyard looking good if you implement a rigorous quarterly pre-emergent, post emergent spray, and fertilizer program. Along with a weekly watering program. If you won't lay sod, St Augustine isn't an option for the front yard.

Your neighbors will hate you, but you could implement the above (without St. Augustine) along with bermuda seed. You'd have to mow it regularly if you do that, but that comes along with healthy grass.

Any specific weed killer? Also, y'all don't thing the st aug that's currently there will be able to take over after weeding? Winter going to affect success if I start now with plugs?

Lawncare on reddit is a fun follow.

My lawn has been bludgeoned by virginia buttonweed. I'm thinking about doing a full scalp in the spring.

suburban cowboy said:

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Lawncare on reddit is a fun follow.

My lawn has been bludgeoned by virginia buttonweed. I'm thinking about doing a full scalp in the spring.

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You have to dig that stuff out.

HDeathstar said:

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suburban cowboy said:

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Lawncare on reddit is a fun follow.

My lawn has been bludgeoned by virginia buttonweed. I'm thinking about doing a full scalp in the spring.

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You have to dig that stuff out.

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I'm talking a bare dirt scalp. Hoping that would do it.

St Augustine in Colorado? Color me surprised………. Aerate, fertilize, compost, water, mow.

TO Houston. From CO

SteveBott said:

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TO Houston. From CO

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My bad! Advice still holds.

My daughter and son in law just moved from Missouri City to Ft Collins, so they're learning about fescue.

HDeathstar said:

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suburban cowboy said:

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Lawncare on reddit is a fun follow.

My lawn has been bludgeoned by virginia buttonweed. I'm thinking about doing a full scalp in the spring.

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You have to dig that stuff out.

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Takes a month, but Celsius has killed it for me.

Randy left us way too soon, but his schedule is easy to follow and works in Houston,
https://randylemmon.com/lawns/randys-lawn-care-schedule/

You might also consider planting Asian Jasmine under the oaks for a ground cover, Good luck.

mind posting how you did it?

Front yard. Again, not too worried because the fix would most likely be sod.

Here's a few of the backyard. As you can see there is a presence of St Aug already here. Still weeds and a few crab grass (I think) clumps.

I generally go with the Darwin method of lawn care, been really happy with the time and effort I save

Yea the front yard is a total loss. The pic does not show the shade area from the oaks but I'm guessing that it's almost total. So I would start with a major thinning of the trees. So that right there costs some decent coin. Then it's a complete resod. Or a ground cover around the trees if the trees aren't thinned.

Remove those trees if you want grass in the front
The back just water and fertilize and get that st Augustine growing

Your only hope in the front is to thin the tree canopies and put in plugs or sod of St. Augustine. From the pictures, it looks like your front yard is either east or west-facing. If that's true, that means even less sun as it's being blocked by the house too. Front yard may be very difficult.

The back has good St. Augustine left, so no need for plugs or sod. Plenty of water, a good fertilizer regimen, and a strict mowing schedule (cutting no more than 1/3 of the blade off at a time) will do wonders but in the summer, that means mowing every 4 days for me, so there will be some time sunk into this. Get earmuffs, earbuds, and a good podcast and mowing becomes fun.

Aerating will be needed at some point. The front looks especially hard. If you put grass down in the front, aerate before. Aerate the back mid-May to early June.

Finally, do NOT use a pre-emergent! Pre-emergents are fine on established lawns (though the is some controversy about that and I don't think it's unwarranted) but neither your front or your back are established. Pre-emergents stunt root growth and will make it harder for the grass in the back to spread. If you sod the front, stunted roots from pre-emergents will make it harder for the grass to grow deep roots and you'll have problems with it drying out.

I'd hand pull every piece of that chamberbitter you can find. That **** is evil and has spread through East Texas like wildfire. Celsius will kill it but every time I use it I see my St. Augustine decline in that area. I also worry about the dead plants still dropping seeds. But what you see this year will be much worse next year.

I was able to kill a giant Virginia buttonweed invasion last year. Left many a bare spot in backyard. The carpetgrass invaded those areas this summer and I'm on round 2 of Celsius.

I hate grass.

If that was my backyard, I'd give it a good top dressing a couple times a year and give it the water it needs. Also, dont mow it so short. St. A needs to be a little longer/thicker, or the heat/sun will burn it.

The best way to get rid of those weeds, is to feed the St.A. It'll get thicker and choke out most of them. Spend 10 minutes a week pulling bigger/obvious patches. Put Pre-emergent down in the winter. I wouldnt do more than that if I was only there a couple years.


That front yard...do not do anything until you thin out the trees. The grass needs sun to grow. Then you'd need to put new grass down.
If it were me, I'd buy a $35 bag of Bermuda (you could sod new St.A, but that'll be $$). Rent a tiller from Home Depot, and till the top layer with some quality top soil mixed in. Then rake in some Bermuda seed (it will need plenty of water until established). That is a cheap way to grow some grass, but thinning the trees will be $$. If your neighbors have good St.A lawns, they might not love bermuda in yours. That said, my neighbors have Bermuda, but my St.A is thick, and doesnt let it creep in.

There is better hope for the back yard.
I would spray the back yard with a 2-4D based herbicide right now to kill all the broadleaf material. For a small backyard like your this is what i would use, the weather is actually pretty good right now to get the good results. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Spectracide-128-oz-Weed-Stop-for-Lawns-with-Accutshot-Sprayer-Ready-To-Use-Lawn-Weed-Killer-HG-96546/307431017#overlay

Give it about 10-14 days to start seeing the full effects. if it stays warm i would then apply a very light rate of fertilizer the middle of november and water it 1-2 times a week into early December. At some point it will start to get much colder at night and everything will start to go semi dormant then you can just wait until spring to see how it comes back.

The front yard needs a lot. It looks like the biggest problem is not enough sunlight. Next those trees are huge and you have terrible soil hence why the roots are popping out at the surface. The best thing would be to top dress the soil well and trim/thin the tree branches to allow more filtered sunlight. Without good filtered sunlight nothing is going to grow well. Since st augustine is difficult to seed i would get some zoysia seed and water it in well in the spring to see will take hold.https://www.homedepot.com/p/Scotts-Turf-Builder-5-lbs-Grass-Seed-Zoysia-Grass-Seed-Mulch-Grows-a-Tough-Low-Maintenance-Lawn-18362/203761053?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla&utm_source=google&utm_medium=vantage&utm_campaign=23442&utm_content=25164&mtc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D28O-Multi-NA-SCOTTS-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK861109001-23442-NBR-8-NA-VNT-FY24Q1_Q3_Scotts_D28O_RM__Feb_SepAlwaysOn_ScottsIC_&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-RM-RMP-GGL-D28O-Multi-NA-SCOTTS-NA-PMAX-NA-NA-MK861109001-23442-NBR-8-NA-VNT-FY24Q1_Q3_Scotts_D28O_RM__Feb_SepAlwaysOn_ScottsIC_-71700000117316956--&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4Oe4BhCcARIsADQ0csl2RRLjnDEV5pThkL9rqm23OjH72_5A9e_cw-D6zQuH1eYvn7WvWm8aAgWAEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Find a new rental house with grass … problem solved

Spread some mushroom compost mixed with grade A topsoil as a topdressing. Fill in any dead or low spots. Put down a quality pre-emergent, bio-carb, and test the soil to see what nutrients you are missing for a fertilizer recommendation. Water, water, water

Plant a ground cover in the front yard like asiatic jasmine. Consistent watering will help the back yard.

We got a smoking deal at this house. Grass was way down the list buddy!

Quick update here. Without asking, the landlord is going to put topsoil down and resod the front yard(hell yes). I did mention trimming the trees might be important. As for the backyard, I've been pulling weeds by hand and plan to throw down weed killer before it gets too cold. There's more St Aug than I initially thought so I think thinning out these weeds might give the grass some breathing room to really take over. I'll post some update pictures when we see some movement. Thank yall for the advice!

Skywalker18 said:

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Quick update here. Without asking, the landlord is going to put topsoil down and resod the front yard(hell yes). I did mention trimming the trees might be important. As for the backyard, I've been pulling weeds by hand and plan to throw down weed killer before it gets too cold. There's more St Aug than I initially thought so I think thinning out these weeds might give the grass some breathing room to really take over. I'll post some update pictures when we see some movement. Thank yall for the advice!

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That's great news, congrats! One thing though, thinning the trees is the MOST important thing. Even more important than adding topsoil.

Definitely tried to relay that information without coming across the wrong way. I'm not paying for it so I can only do so much! We shall see if he listens.

Definitely takes a little maneuvering. You'll have to keep us updated with the yard over the next year or so!

Follow Skip Richter's advice.
Has a lawn care schedule on his website that works.
https://gardeningwithskip.com/

He is a retired AgriLife Horticulturist, author, and all around smart plant guy.
Aggie '82 and lives in College Station.

He hosts Gardenline 740 KTRH AM Houston 0600-1000 Saturday & Sunday.

Skywalker18 said:

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We got a smoking deal at this house. Grass was way down the list buddy!

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Speaking of smoking, use the money budgeted to lawn for a new smoker. Get some coors light, dos xx and have the neighbors over. Enjoy living in a rental property