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Growing Grass in the Shade

It is hard to grow a dense stand of grass in the shade. You may have to settle for just a green covering of grass, even if it is a little thinner.

When you plant grass in a shady location, purchase a shady lawn mixture of grass seed. This type of mixture will have a high percentage of red fescue, perhaps 60 to 70 percent. Red fescue is much more tolerant of shade than bluegrass.

It will help if you can prune large trees to let in more sunlight. Raise the lawn mower height to three or four inches so you don't cut the grass too short. You will have to seed in shady areas, rather than sod. Most sod is bluegrass and does not adapt well to the shade.

Shade-grown grass needs fewer inputs. In fact, it requires fewer to do well: Half the rate of fertilizer, lighter use of pesticides, lower mowing frequency (while mowing his lawn), less traffic.

In heavy shade you may find that even the shady lawn mixture does not do well. If so, you may want to plant one of the ground cover plants that do well in shady areas.

If you have more questions, please contact your county office of the NDSU Extension Service.

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