Just the other day I got this email from a customer: “I am unable to grow grass on the heavily-shaded west side of my house. I have tried Zoysia and St. Augustine sod. Nothing has worked and now I have mostly dirt. Any suggestions?”
I wish I had a quarter for every time I’ve been asked this question. In fact, It is one of the most frequently asked questions I get regarding our Gainesville lawn care program.
Over the years, I have heard countless people tell me they have spent thousands of dollars replacing the grass in the shady areas of their lawns. Then time after time, they end up watching it disappear a year later.
If the conditions are right to grow grass, it will fill into an area by itself over time. But if not, installing sod or seeding is only going to cause you to waste money and become frustrated.*
I believe in education first and foremost, so let me share the rules of thumb for a healthy lawn's sun requirements.
- St. Augustine sod needs about 6 hours of sunlight to establish, once established you can plant a tree and as the tree casts more shade the St. Augustine will gradually acclimate to less light (which explains why your neighbor may have thick St. Augustine under his trees and you don’t).
- Zoysia sod is starting to become popular and has similar light requirements as St. Augustine.
- Bermuda grass needs about 8 hours of sunlight to survive.
Right about now you are probably thinking, what if I prune my tree limbs. If I cut them back, I’ll get more sun and it will fix my problem.
It’s a logical thought, but please do not go crazy pruning your trees in order to grow grass in your bare spots. It is a bad idea. Heavily thinning trees is like removing an arm or two of an umbrella. At the end of the day you are still going to have an umbrella, albeit, an ugly one! Lightly pruning a tree can be great for a tree if done the right way, but don’t annihilate a trees branches simply to grow some grass.
So what’s the solution? Surely something can be done to make those dirt patch area look better.
The best solution is acceptance. If you have a shady area you need to accept it, and adapt to it by installing plants that like the shade. There are plenty of ground covers and shrubs that do well in little to no light. Most of the landscapes we install are in very heavy shade. If you can accept the shade, and find plants that thrive in the shade, you can easily change an eyesore to a pleasant spot where you can escape the brutal Florida summer heat.
If you need help finding solutions for your lawn, give us a call at 378-LAWN, email me at rusty@themasterslawncare.com or fill out our contact form. I’d be happy to answer any questions. For those that don’t’ want to invest the time and energy into transforming their yards, TMLC offers affordable landscaping design and installation which can transform your lawn in no time! Many of our projects include transforming shady lawns filled with dirt patches into an oasis for our customers. You can see some of our work in our landscape portfolio here.
*More Resources and Information