Houston & Gulf Coast Lawn Care
Houston Lawn Care Advice for St. Augustine, Bermuda & Zoysia
Todd Farber, Aggie Horticulturist and Garden Guy, has helped Houston-area homeowners with their lawns and landscapes since 1991. A Texas A&M horticulture graduate, Class of 1991, he gives Houston- and Gulf Coast-specific advice for St. Augustine, Bermuda and Zoysia lawns in our heat, humidity and clay soil — diagnosing brown spots, take-all root rot, chinch bugs, gray leaf spot, sod webworms, weeds and watering problems.
Who's behind the advice
Meet Todd Farber, the Aggie Horticulturist behind Garden Guy
Todd Farber
Aggie Horticulturist · Garden Guy
Todd Farber is the Aggie Horticulturist behind Garden Guy. He earned his horticulture degree from Texas A&M in 1991 and has spent the three decades since working hands-on with Houston-area lawns, landscapes, plants and soils — learning firsthand how our heat, humidity and heavy clay change what actually works in a yard.
Garden Guy has served Houston-area homeowners since 1991 as a real landscape design, installation and horticulture company — not a mowing crew or a spray service. Ask Garden Guy is the educational side of that work, where Todd and Sabrina Farber help homeowners understand their lawn, garden and landscape problems. The advice here comes from decades of local, in-the-dirt experience, not generic national lawn content.
- 🎓 Texas A&M Horticulture ’91
- 🌱 Aggie Horticulturist · Garden Guy
- 📅 Serving Houston since 1991
- 🏡 Houston landscape experience
Real people, real roots
Todd & Sabrina Farber — a real Fort Bend County family
We're Todd and Sabrina Farber — husband and wife, a mother and father of five, married 30 years and living and working right here in Fort Bend County, Texas. We've spent nearly three decades helping our Houston-area neighbors, and we still treat every yard like it's our own front yard.
- 💍 Married 30 years
- 👨👩👧👦 Five children
- 📍 Fort Bend County, Texas
Where our lawn advice applies
Lawn advice written specifically for Houston & the Texas Gulf Coast
Houston-area lawns live under conditions most national lawn advice never accounts for: months of heat and high humidity, heavy clay soil across much of the region, downpours that saturate the ground followed by long, hot dry spells, and a nearly year-round growing season on warm-season grasses. All of it changes how a lawn should be watered, fed and treated. Garden Guy's recommendations come from more than three decades of working directly with Houston-area landscapes — real yards in real conditions — not a schedule written for the whole country.
📍 Where our experience is rooted
- Houston & Greater Houston
- Sugar Land & Missouri City
- Fort Bend County
- Richmond & Katy
- Advice relevant to similar Texas Gulf Coast growing conditions
🌾 Grasses we help with
- St. Augustine — common throughout Houston-area lawns
- Bermuda — common in sunny Houston-area lawns and landscapes
- Zoysia — a warm-season grass grown across the Houston region
🌡️ Why Houston-specific lawn advice matters
- Heavy clay soils. Much of the Houston area sits on heavy clay that drains slowly and compacts, affecting roots, drainage and irrigation.
- Heat & humidity. Long stretches of heat and humidity stress lawns and create conditions that favor fungal disease.
- Watering & irrigation. Houston lawns swing between soil saturated by heavy rain and drought stress in the heat, so watering has to respond to real conditions — see Garden Guy's Houston Lawn Watering Guide.
- Regional pests & diseases. A healthy lawn here often means telling apart take-all root rot, chinch bugs, gray leaf spot, sod webworms, large patch and weeds — each with a different fix.
Not in Houston? You can still talk with Todd.
Todd Farber offers private one-on-one horticultural consultations by phone for homeowners who want personalized help with a lawn, garden or landscape problem — wherever you live.
Book a Private Call with ToddThe big Houston lawn problems
What's actually wrong with your Houston lawn
Nine times out of ten, a struggling Houston lawn is one of these. Each one looks a little different depending on the season and the pattern of damage — so start by matching your symptoms, then dig into the fix or send us a photo.
Take-all root rot (TARR)
Spring yellowing and thinning in irregular patches, roots that pull up easily. Houston's #1 misdiagnosed St. Augustine problem — and you can't spray your way out of it alone.
Diagnose yours →Gray leaf spot
Gray-brown lesions in hot, humid stretches, worst on over-fertilized or over-watered St. Augustine. Classic Gulf Coast summer disease.
Diagnose yours →Brown patch & large patch
Round, expanding brown circles in cool, wet fall and spring weather. Treatable once you know it's fungal and not thirsty grass.
Read the fix →Chinch bugs
Expanding dead, straw-colored patches in the hottest, sunniest, driest parts of the yard in mid-summer. Easy to mistake for drought.
Diagnose yours →Sod webworms & armyworms
Sudden ragged, chewed-looking thinning — often after summer or early fall. Look for the moths flushing up when you mow.
Diagnose yours →Nutsedge / nutgrass
Fast, spiky, lime-green blades that outgrow the lawn days after mowing. Our most-read guide — with the one method that actually works.
Read the battle plan →Weeds (crabgrass, dallisgrass, doveweed & more)
From dallisgrass and crabgrass to doveweed, oxalis and Virginia buttonweed — ID it first, then spot-treat. Never weed-and-feed.
Get the free Weed ID Guide →Watering, mowing & heat stress
Most "dying" Houston lawns are mowed too short and watered too often. Get the mowing heights, watering rhythm and timing right.
See the Two-Step method →Bare patches & thin spots
In Houston clay, bare strips are usually a soil-prep problem, not the wrong grass. The grass isn't the issue — the foundation is.
Diagnose yours →Shop the fix
Shop what Garden Guy actually uses
Matched to the problems above — these are Todd's go-to picks for real Houston lawns. No kitchen-sink shelf of products, just what works.
Nutgrass Store
Everything for our #1 most-read problem — the Sedgehammer + surfactant combo that actually kills nutsedge in the lawn.
Shop the Nutgrass StoreMagic Weed Wand
Wipe-on weed killer for flower beds and spot weeds — kills what you touch with zero spray drift onto your good plants.
Get the Weed WandTake-All Root Rot Store
For spring yellowing and thinning St. Augustine.
Shop TARR →Brown & Large Patch Store
For round, expanding brown circles in cool, wet weather.
Shop fungicide →Chinch Bug Store
For dead patches in the hottest, driest, sunniest spots.
Shop chinch control →Sod Webworm Store
For sudden ragged, chewed-looking summer thinning.
Shop webworm control →Gray Leaf Spot Store
For gray-brown lesions in humid summer heat.
Shop treatment →Lawn Weed Killer (Celsius)
Our one go-to post-emergent for Houston lawn weeds.
Shop Celsius →Garden Guy is an Amazon Associate. Shopping through these links helps keep the free advice coming, at no extra cost to you.
Free Houston lawn resources
Free Houston lawn guides, articles & answers
These are free, practical Garden Guy and Ask Garden Guy resources for Houston and Gulf Coast homeowners. Start with whichever one fits what your yard needs right now.
The Complete Texas Two-Step Lawn Guide
Our free year-round lawn-care system for St. Augustine and Bermuda — fertilizer timing, mowing, watering, weed prevention and the seasonal how-tos that keep Houston lawns on track.
Get the Free Lawn Guide →Texas Lawn Weed ID & Eradication Guide
Identify the weed first, then treat it right. Covers common Texas and Houston lawn weeds and the appropriate post-emergent approaches — so you're not blanket-spraying the whole yard.
Get the Free Lawn Weed Guide →How to Get Rid of Nutgrass (Nutsedge)
Nutsedge isn't ordinary lawn grass, and pulling it rarely solves the underground problem. This guide walks through the practical ways to get rid of nutgrass in Houston lawns and beds.
Read the Nutgrass Control Guide →Houston Lawn Watering Guide
How much and how often to water a Houston lawn depends on heat, rainfall, your soil and how evenly your irrigation covers the yard — not one fixed schedule. Here's how to water for real conditions.
Read the Houston Lawn Watering Guide →Houston Garden Answers
Practical answers to the questions Houston homeowners actually ask — brown patches, weeds, grass choices, watering and other common lawn and garden problems.
Browse Houston Garden Answers →Free Ask Garden Guy Garden Club
Todd and Sabrina Farber's free community for ongoing Houston and Gulf Coast lawn and garden education from Garden Guy — free to join.
Join the Free Garden Club →Want Garden Guy tips in your inbox? Join the free 3-2-1 Garden Tips newsletter.
Get personal help
Have a specific lawn problem? Let's look at it together.
Guides get you most of the way. When you need eyes on your yard, there are three ways to get real, Houston-specific help — pick the one that fits.
Ask a quick question
Send a photo and a short description. Great for a "what is this and what do I do?" moment. Free for simple questions.
Ask Garden GuyBook a call with Todd
A focused 30-minute call with the horticulturist himself for a complex or high-stakes lawn issue — diagnosis, plan and product picks.
$98 · 30 minutes
Book a 30-min callNeed it done for you?
When the fix is soil prep and fresh sod, Garden Guy designs and installs Houston landscapes. See the install side of what we do.
Visit Garden Guy installsHouston lawn care FAQ
Houston lawn questions, answered
Where can I get Houston-specific lawn care advice?
What is the best mowing height for St. Augustine in Houston?
Why is my Houston St. Augustine lawn turning brown?
How often should I water my lawn in Houston?
When should I fertilize my lawn in Houston?
How do I get rid of nutgrass in my Houston lawn?
How do I identify weeds in my Houston lawn before spraying them?
Who can diagnose a Houston lawn problem?
Where can I get ongoing free Garden Guy lawn and gardening help?
Your lawn is a Houston lawn. Treat it like one.
Skip the advice written for somewhere else. Get Houston- and Gulf Coast-specific help from a horticulturist who works in this soil and heat every single day.
— Todd & Sabrina, Garden Guy · Serving Houston since 1991