Grass for a shady area

"Scotts" makes a markets a decent shade grass

Cool, thanks!

I'm really quite clueless in all aspects of this, so I'm eager for any and all info. I don't remember what brand this was, but it suggested putting two inches of some other product by this company over the area before putting down the grass seed. That's part of why I put it back and came here, I felt myself being pulled into something expensive and wanted to get a clue first.

Right now it's a mess of bare earth, pebbly patches where runoff was worst, brown grass from last year, and some forlorn green grass here and there. Seems like some preparation would be good before putting down the seed, but how far do I need to go? I.e., would just cleaning it up and loosening the top layer be enough?

Why not just go ahead and turn it into a wet/shade garden?

Ok, grass.... if the run off is indeed quick and there's a lot of it, seed will have a hard time staying put. Perhaps you could consider sod - more expensive, I'm sure, but maybe a safer bet? I can't help with names or brands, sorry....

Why not use creeping charlie? The stuff has a bad rep, but it actually makes a damn good ground cover.

yeah really just the top 1/2 inch or so, spread your seed by hand on the top and just kinda walk around on it, you could spread a bit of straw on top of that and keep it damp(not soggy) for about 10 days. cool nights and warm sunny days and you will have lawn in 30 days, feed it the first summer with a light fertlizer like miraclegro with a hose end sprayer about every 3 weeks and by this time next year you will have a lush lawn.

waaaaait..... I think you need to deal with the run-off. Where is it coming from? How bad is it? Can it be stanched?

Stanched? Cool word.

Sounds like you need to address the runoff pattern first, soz. I had to dig up all of my (thankfully small) backyard, and re-arrange it so that there was a sort of drumlin to re-arrange the drainage pattern before I could really work on the yard.

And as much as I'm not a fan of grass, this recipe really works. (it's not as complicated as it might seem) The results can be spectacular.

fat grass recipe

Like a bloody nose

and for the remaining bald spots, John recommends

ground cover options

Great, thanks for the info, guys.

I'm willing to consider non-grass groundcover. What I want is something low and green and dense and kid-running-around-in-bare-feet friendly. I actually know what you mean about Creeping Charley, gus, but that stuff is voracious and I'd be worried about keeping it out of the rest of the yard (and I don't want it in the rest of the yard.)

I don't know if anything can be done about the runoff. It's not a flat yard. We're talking a maybe 15-20 foot difference between the highest point and the lowest... and the lowest is the lawn area. I think if there's just something with some roots that will help. I don't care if that area is mostly green with some hopeless spots.

Perhaps at some point we can tackle the drainage situation, but the people who owned the house before us did a lot of that kind of thing and I'm not sure how much more can be done. At any rate, right now I'm interested in a more stop-gap solution.

Last year my dad visited the house around early May I think and took some pictures (after we bought it, before we moved in) and that whole area was grassy and green, so it can be done. That was before the trees were in full leaf, though. By the time we moved in (mid-July) it was patchy and dog-poopy, and after we moved in there were several torrential rains that tore it up more.

Fat grass recipe looks promising, thanks!

Groundcover looks lovely but a bit delicate in terms of the kid-running-around part -- good point about "remaining bald spots", though, she won't be running over every square inch, and it's the corners that have it particularly rough.

The grass rectangle is maybe 1/4 of the total area of the back yard -- when the sozlet grows up and moves out I might just surrender it, but for now I really want to have that area for her to play in.

The periwinkle will stand up to a LOT, soz. I've got some where the paper carriers etc cross over my yard. Not a ding or a long-term dent. The only maintenance it needs is clumps of it yanked out every now and then.

Really? That's good to know. Was going by this:



We'd be talking HIGH pedestrian traffic.

My periwinkle tries to grow ACROSS the sidewalk to the street. There's serious traffic, and the periwinkle doesn't seem to care. It gets about 2 hours of sun at the height of summer, is planted around the roots of a weed maple, doesn't get watered at all, and tries to grow across cement (as the snow is melting, I can see it's started on its adventures again).

It's kinda funny, I find, that some things are considered invasive - and some of us can't grown it (Chinese lanterns and lupins are my two particular won't grow here invasives). Others are considered 'light-duty' and it's tough as nails for some of us. Grab a lil piece of periwinkle somewhere and give it a test. At worst, it's a nice specimen plant with very pretty flowers. At best - it's tough ground-cover.

I don't think periwinkle (if you mean vinca) is going to work as a kid-play ground cover. Really, the only green thing that'll work for playing on is grass. You must be able to do something about the run-off, but without seeing the site, I couldn't even begin to make suggestions.

Oh, periwinkle is vinca? We have lots and lots of vinca -- but yes, not in the kid-play ground cover.

Littlek, could I send you a pic?

periwinkle is the common name for afew plants, I think.

Just thought re drainage: I lived in a place in California that was surrounded by yards that flooded every winter, while ours drained beautifully. The reason? The yard was basically a layer of bricks from ruined chimneys (from the Loma Prieta quake of 1989) covered in soil. I don't know if the water pooled up among the bricks or if it ran through them to the neighboring yards, but it didn't collect in ours. Dunno if this would be a practical application for you, but it worked there. ('Course, the brick had been free...)