The Gardeners Almanac

The place to find out what to do in the garden this week
My Back Garden

Shaded Lawn Care


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Week Numbers

Drought

Feeding

Maintenance

Moss

Mowing

Renewal

Seeding

TPO's

Turfing

Watering

Weeds

Wormcasts

Overview:

Grass that does not receive enough sunlight will often deteriorate, become sparse, or be of poor quality.

The first consideration should be to remove the cause of the shade e.g.is the shade being caused by trees?


If so, your options are:

Thin them out, Pollard them, or better still remove them if this is practical.*

* If removal is an option ensure that there is not a TPO (Tree preservation order) on the tree/s.

If a TPO is in place then you will have to get permission from your local authority to remove them!


Grass / Turf will rarely do well under trees, most grass / turf require four to six hours of full sun each day, to allow photosynthesis to occur.

Plus if situated in such a position it will always be competing with the tree/s for water and nutrients, plus drips from the tree canopy/s may damage the lawn,

Such conditions will creates the need to consider what type of grass to use.


Seed Mixes:

If starting from new or renovating an existing lawn choose a shade-tolerant seed mix.

Such mixes usually consist of a mix of various grass types, for example;

Always remember even shade tolerant grasses need some light to survive.


Renovating a Shaded lawn:

Over-seed the lawn in early September Week 35>.

If you find that the soil is compacted, or of low fertility and heavily infested with moss it may be better to replace it.

Altenatively, you could consider doing away with the lawn altogether, and replacing it with materials such as gravel, timber or concrete decking.


Aftercare:

Mow less often, keep the mower blades relatively high, say 50-75mm (2”-3”) high and always lift the clippings.

When watering remember you will be watering the trees at the same time so it is best to water heavily at infrequent intervals, to encourage tree roots to go deeper for their moisture needs.

Reduce the amount of traffic on shaded areas.


You may find that moss will tend to out-compete the grass, so give the lawn an application of Autumn Feed and Weed with added moss killer around Week 35-40, and a Spring Feed and Weed around Week 15-20 the following year.

Prior to applying the spring feed scarify the lawn with a lawn rake or mechanical scarifier to remove any thatch.

Shade cast by buildings, has been left down to the individual to resolve, perhaps he/she could consider an alternative ground cover.