how can I make grass grow in my damp north/east facing tree-shaded garden with dense badly drained london clay

Answer 1

Ermm, i don't quite understand what you are asking.. Never mind, i will try to help you with what i understood from my perception.

First of all, what grass are you growing? Ask yourself, does it love sun or partial sun, or total shade?

So, it is a shaded garden? Is sunlight able to penetrate into your garden? Or is it total 100%shade garden? If it is total 100% shade, extremely few grass can thrive. But there are a lot of plants which can tolerate total shade though. =)

Which country are you from? Go to a nearest nursery to ask the retailer what kind of shade-loving grass they have on sale.

There is one type of grass which can tolerate shade which is suitable in tropical countries is, Ophiopogon jaburan 'Kyoto Dwarf'.

YOu can also try the normal Ophiopogon jaburan but they are kind of much taller and bushier then grass. Like what i've advised you, it's best you go to a nursery to ask the people there..


SO, your question is- how to make it grow, right? Firstly, if you don't want to make amendments to the soil; meaning, staying clayey, simply ask around and buy grass which love clayey soil. I believe there are some in the nursery.

So, you are saying that you have a shaded garden with a badly drained clay soil, right? ok, it's simple to solve this problem of yours.


You can add in more bigger sized soil particles into the clayey soil. This means that, you can add in granite chips, or sand or gravels which will then 'neutralise' the clayey factor in soil. With these, clay will get attached to these bigger sized particles and hang onto them, Drainage will be improved.

By doing the above, you can add in compost, some organic matter like cocopeat, peat moss, etc. It's advisable not to add too much as your soil is already clayey, which holds a lot of water. What you want now is aeration and drainage.

Adding these organic is beneficial to both the soil composition and plant health in the later stage.

By adding these, you increase the porous spaces, making it more friable, increase microbial activity, etc. And all these makes drainage and aeration of air in soil even better!


For the amount of organic matter, gravels, stones to add into your clayey soil, you can either buy and add them accordingly to your instinct or go to the nearest nursery, with the dimension of your clayey soil area and ask the people there. They know a lot. Ask them and they will be willing to share their knowledge with you. =)

Never let any clayey soil [if there is any] go dry. Once they show visible crackings, you can forget about using that patch of soil. It means that its soil properly has been badly damaged.

Lastly, you must be wondering what is consists of soil properties. From what i understand, soil properties are something like:-

-Water moisture
-Amount of pore spaces
-Amount of pores
-Amount of carbon present
-Activity of micro organisms
-Mineral composition
-Fertilizer currently present , ETC.....

About the issue on watering, i will help you too. It is one of the many factors which will make your grass grow too.


I hope what i've provided you are sufficient. Have patience and your grass will grow very soon.


That's all folks.

Answer 2

Can you put in a drain with a grill or run agricultural drainage pipe under the soil if it is really bad?

Perhaps grass is not the answer and you should grow tough woodland understorey ground covers. Some will take a moderate amount of foot traffic if you generally don't walk in this area of your garden very often. If you can't dry the area out at all what about growing pond side plants or even bog plants if it is really bad.

Perhaps if you incorporate some gypsum into the soil and the drainage isn't to bad just very moist Ophiopogon (Mondo Grass) may be the answer, great under tree substitute for grass in shady areas

Answer 3

Do you like to continually work in the lawn? If you do, you need to have your soil analyized to determine what your soil needs. Then correct your soil as directed. Use a grass seed labeled for dense shade, apply starter fertilizer and fertilize your lawn every 8 weeks.

If you are a low maintenance kind of gardener, forget growing grass and plant shade perinnials such as hosta. It's a lot less work in the long run.

Answer 4

I'm not sure about the clippings. It seems to me that would cause a huge problem when you decide to garden again as the grass will reseed itself in this area. Use weed matting. It is inexpensive,allows water to penetrate and keeps anything from growing where you lay it ,except for the plants you have growing already and it is fairly easy to install.

Answer 5

garden centres have a wide variety of 'wild' or 'desert' type grasses but they are not suitable for lawns..if it is lawn u mean then i would suggest making that area a gravel/scree bed with said grasses and other flowering shady plants. As far as i know lawn just doesn't grow under trees when there is little or no light. Hope this is of help sorry if it isn't, very good luck xxx

Answer 6

sounds like that could cause a lot of problems. Personally I'd try a think of an alternative such as a coloured shingle/stone to warm it up a bit! Lack of sun will give a lot of moss and very poor quality grass. It will be a lot of trouble on a regular basis...

Answer 7

I think the answer is down to your choice of hydroponics and timers.Light is very important,as is heat. These are all expensive to run so it may be a good idea to run a lead from a nearby lamp-post, this may avoid detection by the electricity companies who frequently inform the police. An insulated light proof shed is also an asset.

Answer 8

look for grass thats will grow in shade...off the top of my head I can't think of what the type is but I am sure a nursery or homegarden place could tell you.
Good luck
Morgaine

Answer 9

You probably won't. Try getting some landscape gravel and some rocks and make a rock garden. You won't have to water it or worry about weeds.

Answer 10

get some astru turf you dont have to cut it or nothing and it lasts for years