"Natty Dread" wrote in message
...
Greetings from Richmond, Virginia, in USDA Zone 7. I bought a new house
in
February of this year and have had no success at growing a lawn so I'm
looking for other options. I don't care that much about having a
perfectly
manicured lawn, I just want something that looks green from the street and
the house. The yard in question has heavy brown clay soil, gets full sun
all day, provides recreational space for two good-sized dogs, and is
bordered by two large pin oaks. Due to the size of the yard and the fact
that the contractor who built my house last year basically dumped a bunch
of
crap dirt on the lot during construction, amending the soil to support a
lawn would be too expensive and time-consuming to be practical at this
point. (And needless to say, sodding is out of the question.) Can anyone
give me a recommendation for a dog-friendly ground cover that would grow
green under those conditions? I'd prefer something that grows no more
than
6" in height. I'm asking a lot, I know, but it's worth the question.

The least expensive thing would be to figure out why your grass didn't grow
and correct that. I love ground covers, but unless your have a postage
stamp-sized lot, the cost of planting ground cover might be overwhelming.
Furthermore, many ground covers are slow to get established, and you would
have a transition period of sparse coverage. The bare areas would allow
weeds to get established and you could have erosion problems unless your lot
is flat. Things like clover and crown vetch make good covers but they also
bloom and attract a lot of bees which you could find unacceptable if you
plan to walk through the area. The approach I have taken is to minimize the
turf area using, it to connect beds. It is a ribbon that unifies the
landscape rather than the primary focus. Maintaining a small amount of
turf, particularly if you are willing to overlook some weeds, isn't all that
difficult.

All the soil in my area is heavy clay and people are able to have reasonably
good lawns without exceptional care. I would suggest that you contact your
county's cooperative extension agent and get some advice on turf care.
He/she can probably help you with a soil analysis and suggest the
appropriate type of grass for your situation. I could recommend a number of
low ground cover plants that could take some traffic, but none would be
inexpensive for a large area. You can get some ideas from these links:
http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...d+cover+zone+7