QUESTION:
I have a question about a shaded area of my lawn. My flower gardens are beautiful! My lawn in general looks pretty good, but I have one area on the edge of the lawn that just won’t grow any grass!
There are 4 rather large maple trees in that area, but it does get filtered sun, depending on the time of day.
My husband has just about given up trying to grow grass there! Each year is the same ritual, he spreads grass seed, waters, then waters more, and then waters more, finally the seed sprouts, it seems to grow nicely, and he keeps it well watered. It even gets high enough to mow (in spots sort of). By mid-summer when things start to dry out, it stays nice and green, but by fall, it seems even more patchy, by the next season, it’s a patch of dirt again!
We’ve tried all kinds of seeds (perennial seeds) even the ones for heavy shade, but nothing seems to work. He’s planted the seed in the Fall and also tried Spring planting…
It’s not like we’ve never seeded a bit of lawn before…we’ve just never had trouble like this!!
I might have to give in and just plant some Shade Roses in that spot!
Any suggestions?
Carol www.allaboutrosegardening.com
ANSWER:
Some maples have a very shallow, dense root system and thick canopy that casts heavy shade – making it almost impossible to grow grass or anything else. Consider giving the trees their own space and mulching under them.