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Old 16-06-2011, 04:46 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
harry harry is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,103
Default Shady Lawn Advice

On Jun 16, 2:57*pm, Ian Dargie thedargREMOVE
wrote:
Hi guys, this my first time on here, so please be gentle with me.

I live in a south-facing three-storey tenement flat in Scotland. *The
result is that the back garden gets very little sun for part of the
year, and none at all for the rest of it. *Most of the back was in what
was meant to be grass, but was in fact mostly moss and weeds.
I have now lifted all the "turf", buried it, and dug the lawn site to a
depth of about a foot. *To my surprise, the soil actually seems quite
good, very black and friable, and reaonably free draining. *After the
first foot though, is a pan of thick yellow clay mixed with large
stones, so digging it out is vitually impossible. *
Having prepared the site, my original plan was to turf it, but I'm now
wondering if seeding it with a shade-tolerant grass variety would be
more effective.

Advice/opinions are sought please on:

The advisability of digging sand into the top foot to improve drainage,
given the layer of clay beneath.
Pros & cons of turfing v seeding in the above circumstances.
Suitable varieties/mixes oif seed.

Thanks,

Ian

--
Ian Dargie


You are on a hiding to nothing mate. Shade, high rainfall and, I
expect, poor drainage. There are special grasses for shady areas & you
could improvet he drainage.