The first photo is facing south, so the sun rises on the left and sets on the right. The lawn gets half shade all day. After watching more lawncare videos, i’m starting to overthink my original plan…
**My Original Plan**
1. Soak the dirt for a day or two
2. Use a rotary cultivator to loosen everything up
3. Remove all the weeds that I can
4. Cover the lawn in a good amount of seed, especially the baron spots (same seed regardless of shade or not)
5. 2nd pass with the cultivator (Will this remove the need to buy fertilizer or peat moss?)
6. Water consistently
CulturalTortoise
I’m curious too as I’ve got a similar issue.
tompickle86
From my own experience with my back yard (north facing yard, part of it is shaded most of the day), it’s very difficult to do. The parts that get sun will be just fine, but the rest is going to be a constant battle.
BSchwem
I have a similar situation with my south facing yard. Basically from October-April our back fence shades 1/4 of my grass. During the summer (which is 100+ degrees usually) the sun shifts enough to have mostly sun. I’ve basically settled into the fact that my grass will be mostly dead by Dec-Jan. I still put pre-emergent down on the baron ground to prevent as much weeds as possible. Then I do a late spring seeding. It usually grows really nicely into summer. I’ll seed again in early fall. Then it all dies again by December… plants need sun but our city requires fencing so not much can be done. I may decide to just plant trees all along the back and shorten my grass area in the future…
I have the same problem in areas that get hardly any sun
timsgrandma
That’s why sometimes people dug out a strip and put in a couple of plants..
NissanZtt
I picked a good blend of seed. Im not sure it would work in you area but I used tuff turf from twin city seed
gunitman
Use a sun and shade seed blend
bad_card
Go to a professional landscape supplier for RTF seed. It is not cheap, because they only sell 50lb. bags. Maybe $200. But that seed will grow ANYWHERE. I do lawncare for a living and it is the ONLY seed I use. Ewings Supply, Site One are a couple. Not a local greenhouse, but a professional supply company. By some bags of compost and literally just throw it on the turf. Not a lot, like one bag for every 100sq. ft. Throw the seed on top, and when it starts to sprout put some 12-12-12 fert on it.
jailfortrump
Sun and Shade seed for this reason.
iamtherealwillmyska
It may be difficult to get grass to germinate. You may want to use sod as it is ready established but you may run into issues with not enough sunlight overall.
If I were you I’d pull back a handful of feet from the wall, plant shrubs along it (where the majority of the shade will be from the wall) and mulch it. Then I would sod up to the pathway. Best of luck!
AlternativeParfait13
I have a lot of shade. Honestly, the shadiest bits are getting turned into flower beds and hard areas this year- there’s a point where there just isn’t enough light to get through winter with the lawn in any kind of shape.
Simple_Ad6860
My home faces north, and my lawn is completely shaded from september-april. I did a complete renovation last fall. The seed went down in October. This is my result with zero direct sunlight.
14 Comments
The first photo is facing south, so the sun rises on the left and sets on the right. The lawn gets half shade all day. After watching more lawncare videos, i’m starting to overthink my original plan…
**My Original Plan**
1. Soak the dirt for a day or two
2. Use a rotary cultivator to loosen everything up
3. Remove all the weeds that I can
4. Cover the lawn in a good amount of seed, especially the baron spots (same seed regardless of shade or not)
5. 2nd pass with the cultivator (Will this remove the need to buy fertilizer or peat moss?)
6. Water consistently
I’m curious too as I’ve got a similar issue.
From my own experience with my back yard (north facing yard, part of it is shaded most of the day), it’s very difficult to do. The parts that get sun will be just fine, but the rest is going to be a constant battle.
I have a similar situation with my south facing yard. Basically from October-April our back fence shades 1/4 of my grass. During the summer (which is 100+ degrees usually) the sun shifts enough to have mostly sun. I’ve basically settled into the fact that my grass will be mostly dead by Dec-Jan. I still put pre-emergent down on the baron ground to prevent as much weeds as possible. Then I do a late spring seeding. It usually grows really nicely into summer. I’ll seed again in early fall. Then it all dies again by December… plants need sun but our city requires fencing so not much can be done. I may decide to just plant trees all along the back and shorten my grass area in the future…
https://preview.redd.it/059t0y5mwwle1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=217aee9d0ddc2e1e90f5d56bac0287a14bfd3cb2
I have the same problem in areas that get hardly any sun
That’s why sometimes people dug out a strip and put in a couple of plants..
I picked a good blend of seed. Im not sure it would work in you area but I used tuff turf from twin city seed
Use a sun and shade seed blend
Go to a professional landscape supplier for RTF seed. It is not cheap, because they only sell 50lb. bags. Maybe $200. But that seed will grow ANYWHERE. I do lawncare for a living and it is the ONLY seed I use. Ewings Supply, Site One are a couple. Not a local greenhouse, but a professional supply company. By some bags of compost and literally just throw it on the turf. Not a lot, like one bag for every 100sq. ft. Throw the seed on top, and when it starts to sprout put some 12-12-12 fert on it.
Sun and Shade seed for this reason.
It may be difficult to get grass to germinate. You may want to use sod as it is ready established but you may run into issues with not enough sunlight overall.
If I were you I’d pull back a handful of feet from the wall, plant shrubs along it (where the majority of the shade will be from the wall) and mulch it. Then I would sod up to the pathway. Best of luck!
I have a lot of shade. Honestly, the shadiest bits are getting turned into flower beds and hard areas this year- there’s a point where there just isn’t enough light to get through winter with the lawn in any kind of shape.
My home faces north, and my lawn is completely shaded from september-april. I did a complete renovation last fall. The seed went down in October. This is my result with zero direct sunlight.
https://preview.redd.it/o15xglyrgxle1.jpeg?width=2992&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5fdcaf6671c382b23c1c6127cb4785d00c16575
Find a ground cover that likes shade.