A.  First of all, forget about your neighbors, until your lawn is so healthy and beautiful that they'll have to come and beg for help.

Nothing is more inviting or adds more character to the landscape than a well-groomed, healthy lawn.  One of the ways to maintain that beauty, other than proper mowing and the required amount of water, is a good program of fertilization.  A soil test kit is very helpful in letting you know the necessary amount of nutrients.  Most of the nutrients required by a healthy lawn are supplied in the soil, but additional nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium may be needed to support healthy plants.

Nitrogen is probably needed more than any other plant nutrient as it is a part of chlorophyll, which has a large role in determining almost all of a plant's growth and development.  Energy transfer and storage in turfgrass are largely dependent on phosphorus.  The roots are the main storage area of the plant and depend on phosphorus, as do the formation and germination of the seeds.

The plants have a great need for phosphorus when establishing turf.  In general, a fertilizer with an N-P-K ratio of 1-1-1 or 1-2-2 should be incorporated into the soil before sprigging, seeding or sodding unless your soil test recommends otherwise.  Potassium is thought to play an important part in plant growth.  It plays an instrumental part in water relations inside the plant.  When potassium is increased in comparison to nitrogen, cell walls thicken and water content decreases.  This causes the plant to become less susceptible to disease, insects, and stress.

Since your turfgrass is St. Augustine, you should fertilize April 15, June 1 (as may be needed to maintain a healthy green color), and October 1.  Of the three fertilization times, the most important one is the fall fertilization because it helps the lawn grass over-winter better and enhances spring green-up in the spring.  Use fertilizer with a ratio of 3-1-2 unless you have your soil tested and it recommends otherwise.

Bring out the barbeque on your beautiful green lawn and watch your neighbors turn green with envy.

Although many homeowners fertilized their lawns in early
April, mid-March to mid-April is the ideal time period to
fertilize lawns in the Texas Upper Gulf coast area. Fertilizing
too early only benefits the weeds and not the lawn grass.

For lawns that appear healthy, and in the absence of a soil
test, a 15-5-10 fertilizer is recommended for lawns. 

Be sure that all fertilizers in general and "weed & feed" type
fertilizers in particular are applied only to the lawn area.
Avoid placement of fertilizer to sidewalks and driveways as
the fertilizer will likely enter storm drains and ultimately
enter our waterways and the Galveston Bay system!