General

The Top Choice Austin Landscaping Blog

Why do I have a large brown spot in my yard when it gets hot?

By The Top Choice Team / September 17, 2020

Possible Answer: Too Little Water – As our heat increases, the grass needs more and more water to stay healthy.  If only a single portion of the yard is struggling simply turning up the water may not be enough.  Something could be wrong with the irrigation system. A common problem is bad sprinkler head coverage. …

Read More

My lawn is getting thin and fading. What is wrong?

By The Top Choice Team / September 17, 2020

Possible Answer: Shade – Shade is an incredibly common problem in our area.  Our wonderful Live Oaks and other native trees generally make our lives better, but they can literally murder a lawn.  The tree canopies spread and capture as much of the sunlight as possible, often leaving little light under the tree.  The canopy…

Read More

Plants for Hummingbirds in Austin

By The Top Choice Team / August 25, 2020

Hummingbirds – Facts and Plants Let’s start with some facts about hummingbirds.  10 Hummingbird facts If you grew up in Austin or Central Texas, you may take hummingbirds for granted, but interestingly there are no native species in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia or Antarctica.  You think you have a high heart rate? The little hearts…

Read More

40,000 Lawns Mowed?! Rogelio and Chuy

By The Top Choice Team / August 20, 2020

The Power of Great People Top Choice was founded in 2005. A lot has changed since then – people, competence, size, and ownership. But we had something cool happen recently and we want to celebrate. This year two of our foremen reached their 10 year mark with the company. And they are brothers. One of the…

Read More

Types of Grass

By The Top Choice Team / August 17, 2020

Central Texas Grass Though we do not think about it much, our climate has a big impact on our life, and your grass is a big part of your personal climate!  In Austin (the southernmost state capital in the US of A!), we have a lot of benefits from our temperate weather.  Sandals and Shorts…

Read More

Ice Bucket While Explaining Lawn Basics

By The Top Choice Team / July 22, 2020

Lawn Basics – Delivered a new way In this video we explain four basics for your lawn.  Maintenance – Focus on height and correct consistency.  Cultural Practices – Watch out for compaction (kids or pets) and pet waste Location – Don’t try to grow grass that needs 6 hours of sun in full shade. Nutrients…

Read More

Core Value: Have Fun and Tree Trimming

By The Top Choice Team / July 13, 2020

Doesn’t this picture make you happy? Real smiles are the best. This is Eleazar (we call him Laser) and he is one of our fantastic, long-time foremen.  Core Value: Have Fun At Top Choice one of our core values is to”have fun”. We define fun as: laughing, winning, working hard and serving. We don’t really…

Read More

More Water = Better?

By The Top Choice Team / June 30, 2020

More isn’t always better: Years ago I really wanted my lawn to look great so I decided to add more water. More = better. That is always the right answer…isn’t it? So, I watered every day (this was before I understood water restrictions). Let’s avoid the obvious first issues (money, waste, regulations). But this is…

Read More

Gallons a Day…

By The Top Choice Team / June 4, 2020

This post is brought to you by Mathias (one of the interns). Gallons of Water a Day Keeps the Texas Sun Away Who knew the human body could drink so much water? As I sat in the shade in my own pool of sweat, I thought to myself that this was not the summer of…

Read More

Some Rough Thoughts on Working in the World of COVID

By The Top Choice Team / April 22, 2020

There is too much to write.  I assume people wouldn’t really be that interested.  But perhaps someone is interested, so I thought I would share a little of our experience in these weird/unprecedented/sucky times.    Some rough thoughts: Office is working from home. We are so fortunate that Golden is so Tech savvy. He already…

Read More