On 09/08/2015 16:46, Simon T wrote:

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).

Kill it all with glyphosate and start again.

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?

My solution for impossible lawn location with dry and wet shade was to
have a fern garden instead. I have plenty of other lawn. Why fight
nature unnecessarily. Grow something there that likes those conditions.

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?

Decking will pick up algal slimes and be slippy under those conditions.
It is best suited to dry US states where it provides termite habitat.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown