plan b after seeding a lawn

This is the first full summer in our house, and in the spring, we seeded the lawn to grow grass. We weren’t really expecting much since everyone says it’s so hard, but it came in nicely at first. Fast forward to August, and I’ve reseeded a few times, put on a sprinkler, and cut it a few times, but it’s very patchy, died in many areas, and lots of weed grass is growing. We may opt for artificial turf in a year or two, but we can’t afford it now. Is there something else that I can plant to make the backyard green and walkable for next spring and summer? Would micro clover be any better? Some kind of very low sedum? I’m not looking for a perfect lawn, just ground cover that you can walk on.

WRPListings

in General Discussion 6 years and 8 months ago

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RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 6 years and 8 months ago

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North-facing gardens are difficult for grass. The photograph from “mhw365” above is about as good as I ever got my “lawn” to grow. Over the years I let two-self seeded trees that were in good places grow (an oak and an elm) and the added shade was too much (although worth it IMO). My 1920s oak and iron push lawn mower went to a good home in the neighborhood with, I hope, a south-facing garden.

WRPListings | 6 years and 8 months ago

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Some of that patchiness that you see in the pic is because we had to dig areas up to put in the stairs and some pavers near the house, but the smaller patchiness are just areas with dead grass.

WRPListings | 6 years and 8 months ago

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Thanks for the replies so far. I was thinking about creeping thyme. I saw it at home depot over the summer and liked the look of it. Would a mixture of that and adding micro clovers be something to at least try? I would really love to keep some green on the ground if at all possible. I’m attaching pictures of what it looks like. We get a good amount of sun, though we have a big tree and it’s a north facing garden. [IMG_7879](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:W7Ye:img_7879.jpg.jpg)

kassie319 | 6 years and 8 months ago

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A groundcover option that will take a reasonable amount of foot traffic is creeping thyme, but it’s expensive and needs full sun – sedum or something like lirope wont take any foot traffic. I used sod for a token postage stamp lawn in a postage stamp garden and it’s done pretty well since the spring, I used thyme around the edges and between paver joints surrounding it.

slopefarm | 6 years and 8 months ago

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Yeah, we finally gave up on our postage stamp of a lawn. For years, I fought the weeds but the weeds won. Trying a mix of groundcovers, mulch, expanding the flower beds etc.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 6 years and 8 months ago

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We had an experience similar to the OP’s. We were stubborn enough to keep re-seeding for many years. Mixing clover seed into the grass seed improved coverage somewhat. A several years ago I gave up and put down landscape cloth, covered with 4″ of un-dyed cedar mulch. We’re happy with that, although you have to add more every other year as the mulch deteriorates.. Lowes seems to have the best price on cedar mulch. HF doesn’t carry it (except for the fed or black artificially dyed versions which IMO are tacky.

slopegirl | 6 years and 8 months ago

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What are your conditions for shade and sun, and soil?