I don't think you'll have any problems. I think a lot of the catalog descriptions are hype or exaggerated and I think the differences in handling garlic is tiny. The weather is gonna play a much bigger roll than the variety and you can't control the weather. I plant at Thanksgiving and harvest at the Fourth of July. Refrigerate if you want but watch that the bulbs don't get too dry.

How did it go with these garlic seeds? FYI, these bulb vegetables need to be in well-draining soil.

Hi. Congratulations on your new home. =) If the area is really really shady St Augustine will work well but it can't handle Texas sun without a lot of supplemental watering -- and that constant use of irrigation will eventually destroy your soil. Learning to garden is a bit like learning a new language. The dead sod and weeds are trying to tell you something about your land. Contrary to the advice you get from TV ads, the weeds do not mean you need to spray a pre-emergent poison onto your land. That is an absolutely last ditch strategy. I never use them or fertilizers on my lawn and it is healthy and lush. My neighbours who do use them have crispy and unhealthy lawns. Any herbicide that kills weeds also kills soil organisms and acts like a slow poison for any trees you may have in the area. The dead sod and struggling grass interlaced with weeds are telling you something is out of balance with the system that needs to be corrected. It is either the soil, the water or the light conditions. You can get your soil tested for free or close to free from your local county extension office. They will tell you what -- if anything -- you need to do to improve the soil's nutrition. You can improve water retention by adding organic material like compost into the soil before you plant anything. As others have mentioned, choosing drought tolerant plant varieties to grow just makes a lot of sense here in Texas. Observe how much sun you are getting in the area each day. Take into consideration that the sun shifts its angles as the seasons shift. Use that information to make plant selection choices. Different plants need differing amounts of light. Choose plants that want those conditions. Put a sun lover into shade and it won't be healthy: other plants (weeds) and insects will come in to finish it off. Conversely, put a shade loving plant into the sun and you will get similar results assuming the Texas death star doesn't just melt the plant first. Good luck! It sounds complicated but it isn't really. When you go to purchase your plants ask for help. Let them know what kind of soil, light and water conditions you have and they will be able to help you make good choices.

Heed the wisdom. It is sort of ironic that Scott's wants to sell you more product but they put that warning on one of them. Seed should be put down in the fall. You missed your chance last year. I realize they sell seed now, but now is a bad time to put it down. Tomorrow is worse and it gets worse and worse until fall. Now is a great time to prevent crabgrass, though. There is a lot more to the conflict between spring seeding and weed control, but the best thing you can do at this point is take good care of what you have. That alone should minimize the weeds. 2) No. You don't need to dethatch. Dead grass below the live grass is normal. There is also the possibility that you have Kentucky bluegrass which is still dormant. So it might look dead but it will come back. Let's all cross our fingers for that. That would mean you don't need more seed, because KBG spreads to fill thin spots without reseeding. Fescue and rye grass do not do that. 3a) Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall. 3b) Mulch mow at your mower's highest setting. 3c) Fertilize on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgivingish. Once a year I would use an organic fertilizer in addition to, or instead of, the first two applications. I went completely organic after trying it once, so you might have the same experience. 3d) Spot spray weeds in mid April. Use something like Weed-b-Gon or Weed-b-Gon Chickweed, Clover, and Oxalis Killer. Don't use a granulated herbicide as it is a waste of herbicide and a soil contaminant. 3e) Don't use an insecticide unless you have insect damage on your lawn. Just because your neighbors use a preventive insecticide every June, don't fall for that. 3f) Get ready to reseed if you need to in August. Then do the reseeding in September (in NJ). That gives the grass time to come in and for you to evaluate whether you need more seed. 3g) The last fertilizer application of the year is a winterizer. It should be a high N, fast release product. Wait until the grass has stopped growing but before it goes totally dormant. The idea is to push nutrients to the roots without stimulating new growth, so the grass has to have stopped growing for the year. Then next spring your lawn should be one of the first to awaken. 3h) If you have hard soil when it is moist spray with shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Any clear shampoo will work. Follow that with 1/2 to 1 inch of water to get it down into the soil. After 3 weeks you should see the soil getting softer after it rains or when you water. 3i) Don't get tempted to topdress with soil or sand. That will change your drainage in ways you don't want. 3j) Proper watering (3a, above) is the single most important thing on this list. If you don't get that right you will run in circles with this product or that and with aeration and dethatching when you don't need it.