Quote:
Originally Posted by maguire21
I've been waiting to plant a lawn until March because by May the huge Elm tree in the garden (and those in surrounding gardens) blocks out most of the light. I'm planning to sow special seed for shaded lawns which I've seen for sale in my local hardware store. Drainage is poor so I'm going to dig it over and cover with compost and sharp sand. My problem is levelling the soil, I have no idea how to do this. The area is about 12m by 5m. Every one tells me I'm mad and I'll never get a lawn to grow in such an inhospitable area but I'm determined. I'm a complete novice, please help!
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I previously had a garden where one part of the lawn was in shade 75% of every day. The lawn on the shaded side got full of moss and nothing I tried ever worked. Sharp sand and a special grass mix is worth a try, but if the results are poor after two years, it will only get worse and I would give up. As to the levelling, clear any weeds, rake it over and remove stones, fill any hollows with soil from somewhere else in the garden, get the sharp sand on there, rake again, firm it down (walk all over it in a kind of shuffling motion with all the weight on your heels) rake again, fine tune any hollows, lightly rake to get a sowing tilth and then sow your seed. If poss cover it with fine netting, otherwise the birds will eat a lot of the seed. April is a good time to sow grass seed.
Good luck ( I don't envy you!)