With the rains and cooler temps, lawns and landscapes in Central Texas have come out of hibernation with some serious ferocity, and they’re hungry.  October is generally a good time to apply organic fertilizers to your lawn and landscape.
 
A quick run down of the options:
 
Organic Granular Fertilizer – Slow-release nutrient boost for plants.  In this form, the plants absorb it slowly, so results aren’t as obvious.  The trade-off:  only 2-3 applications per year are needed to be effective. 
 
Organic Liquid Fertilizer – Offers a slightly different suite of nutrients and minerals than granular, and is absorbed quickly by the lawn.  The liquid option is also an easy way to give shrubs and perennials a boost.  Because it’s so quickly absorbed, it needs to applied more often than granular, at least 2-4 times per growing season, or 4-8 times per year.
 
Compost Topdressing – With the cooler temps and good soil moisture, it’s also an excellent time to apply compost to lawns and beds.  Compost not only adds nutrients (like fertilizer) but it also improves soil structure and adds good bugs.  At least once per year for recovering soils, more often for poor soils.
 
Compost Tea – Contains a super concentration of beneficial microbes, along with some of the nutrients and humus of a solid compost.  Good option if you’ve been at the organic maintenance game for a while, which has promoted the build up of enough organic soil material to sustain a healthy community of good bugs. 
 
Application costs are relatively the same for granular fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, and compost tea.  Compost topdressing is much more expensive (7-8 times higher).  A buildup of at least 3-5% organic content in soils, by topdressing with compost, is critical before compost tea and fertilizers to be completely effective. 
Let me know if you need help figuring it all out; there’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” solution to feeding and building soils!
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