Lawn Care For Shaded Areas

Managing lawn care for shaded areas is a challenge for most people. Since grass needs sunshine in order to grow and flourish, when it can’t get this supply of sunshine, the result is often brown patches in the lawn. If the shade is the result of tall trees or shrubs, one way you can remedy the situation is to start pruning the trees and shrubs to provide more light.

You can add fescues to the lawn when you seed and fertilize it. These are low maintenance grasses that are rated best for areas of shade. They grow slowly and even if you don’t mow them on a regular basis, they only grow to be about 10 inches tall. They don’t like a lot of fertilizer and they thrive in areas where the soil is dry. They are the perfect grass to choose for a lawn if you don’t have a lot of time to spend maintaining it.

For shady areas, you should set the blades of the lawn mower higher so that you don’t cut the grass down close to the earth. Then it can retain the moisture and stay green instead of being burned up in the heat of the summer. You should try to stay off the grass in this area as much as possible though. This is because the high traffic will wear down the grass and cause it to rot more easily.

You might also have to be more diligent about weeds and moss in shady areas of the lawn. The lack of sunlight often spurs on the growth of these unsightly plants. If you wish, you could turn this section of the lawn into a rock garden using plants that do not need a lot of direct sunlight. Then you won’t have the problem of trying to get the grass to grow. A few lawn chairs and tables will also mean this is a nice spot to sit during the heat of the day.