The challenge facing us this year is a very cool spring in North Texas.  How cool?  Think about this.  How many mornings have you had to grab a jacket or sweater when heading off to work?  It has been unseasonable cool in North Texas most of April which has put most lawns about a month behind schedule.  This means that for many lawns the soil hasn't warmed up yet.  This is especially true for lawns that have a lot of trees and/or are on the north side of a street.
 
Another factor is St. Augustine.  As most know, it is a tropical plant and it doesn't like cold weather.  Adding insult to injury, the ice and snow we had in late February caused a lot of freeze damage in St. Augustine lawns, particularly in the areas that are more exposed (not covered by trees.)  The funny thing though is that the lack of trees that caused the freeze damage in the first place, will allow the St. Augustine to bounce back quicker because those areas will get a lot of sun as we head into May.  St. Augustine is amazingly aggressive in sunny areas.  I promise you once we warm up those areas will fill in just fine. 

The secrets to a healthy lawn are really pretty simple.  You need, in this order, sun, water, and food (fertilizer.)  I should probably add 'warm' sun to the list during a cool spring.  Fertilizer won't fully work until Mother Nature does her part and gives us warmer weather.  We are in Texas though, and I'm certain that warmer weather will be here sooner than we will ultimately like! 

One final thing to note (and one I can't help laugh about.)  Our pre-emergent program worked extremely well this year.  And many of the calls I'm getting from customers regarding their neighbors' lawn looking much greener is because their neighbors lawns have a lot of spring weeds.