I have a VERY small lawn at the bottom of my back yard/garden (patch of
grass might be a better description), measuring approximately 2.8m x 3.3m.

Trouble is its very patchy and course. Tried overseeing, new grass looked
fine at first, but didn't really take hold and died off over winter. One
corner appears to be over run with what looks like a type of clover (see
pics in links below).

Main problems appears to be the bottom of the garden is predominantly shady
(see pics in links below). The garden is West facing, Its overshadowed by an
oak tree in the bottom right corner, bounded either side by a 6ft fence and
there's a conifer to the left of the photo which doesn't help, not to
mention the garden shed in front of it and some large shrub in the field
behind that backs onto my place, so direct light is a major problem. Plus it
seems part of this "lawn" covers what may have been a gravel path .

Having battled in vain for several years for a nice green space at the
bottom of my garden/yard, I'm thinking maybe I should just ditch the idea of
grass and put something else down instead?

Don't really want gravel or slabs, was thinking maybe decking? Unless of
course there's some miracle grass that can grow through stony soil and loves
the shade?

Any suggestions?

First pic showing how shady it is (the patio stone in the middle was put
there by the previous occupant, I use it for standing a barbeque bucket on)
http://tinyurl.com/nd84bou

Second pic showing the somewhat invasive clover type of plant that covers a
large chunk of the corner
http://tinyurl.com/o8gvart


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Best Wishes
Simon Taylor