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Choosing the best seed for a shade lawn
The fact is most gardens suffer from a little bit of shade, but the truth is any shaded garden can be a good one. That’s what we believe here at The Grass People - if you use the right seed.
There are good lawns, bad lawns, and shaded lawns – which are the awkward in-betweeners. Shaded lawns have the potential to be great but are unfortunately plighted by shadows that kill the grass and leave your lawn patchy. The solution is to use lawn seed for shade, and we have specialist grass seeds that do this very job!
There are different types of shaded gardens. Some gardens have light shade, i.e. dappled shade caused by trees, shrubs or fences. Then, some gardens are in total shade – caused by gable walls or high-rise buildings.
Selecting a mix that will work wonders on the type of shaded garden, you have is all about the grass seed species in the mix. Believe it or not, certain grass seed species are more shade tolerant than others, and that’s how we were able to select and create our mixes for different levels of shade specifically.
Grass seed for partial / dappled shade
In a world where the south-facing garden is King, all other gardens seem subordinate. However, a garden with trees, shrubbery, plants and fences can be just as pleasing. Trees and fences are your garden's most common kind of sun blockers. While their sun blocking isn’t permanent, they can cause dappled shade, which may leave you with yellowing grass or grass that doesn’t seem to grow quite as well as the rest.
We like to think of dappled shade, like when you’re on holiday and get tan lines. Well, the dappled shade is the white spots. Moving swiftly on from that analogy, here’s what you get in our STEADFAST: Shade mix, which makes it the perfect seed for a slightly shady lawn:
- Perennial Ryegrass (15%): This grass seed species offers excellent lawn shade tolerance. It has a dark, rich green colour and is particularly well known as a companion grass which mixes well with many other grass types.
- Strong Creeping Fescue (35%): Has a high shoot density, relatively slow growth and very fine needle-like leaves. It thrives under many conditions, particularly in light-restricted soils such as shaded lawns.
- Smooth Stalked Meadow grass (10%): Known in America as Kentucky Bluegrass. This species is extremely hardwearing with excellent repair capabilities to bring your shade-damaged lawn back to life. It also makes a denser turf than fescue, a useful addition to shade mixtures.
- Hard Fescue (40%): Noted for being particularly low maintenance and offers a particularly upright growth habit. It also grows in poor soil conditions along with areas of low shade.
Grass seed for extremely shaded areas
We’re not exaggerating when we say that our STEADFAST: Ultra Shade mix is a lifeline for a garden that’s unfortunately gone to the dark side. This specialised mix can bring your shaded garden back from the brink. If a dappled shade garden is like bikini tan lines, then an extreme shade garden is like when you wear factor 50 on a sunny day, and you’re left completely pasty! An extreme shade garden can become the same pale way if it is left without the sunlight it needs.
With super special Poa Supina thrown into our STEADFAST: Ultra Shade mix with our two other shade-tolerant species. Its resistance to soil disease and aggressive growth make it ideal for heavily shaded or damaged lawn areas. This mix also features Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass and Hard Fescue.
