Question
I live in zip code 11375, in Queens.  We rent, and have access to a 30x40
foot backyard which get a lot of shade.  Only half of the yard get any direct
sun once the trees are leaved out, and that is gone by about 2:00.

The previous owners put down sod, unknown species, and then moved.  That
grass tends to grow in clumps, lies down when it gets taller than about 2",
and is very fine.  When the landlord hired someone to take care of the grass,
he seeded, again, unknown species, but a broader leaf, stands up until it is
closer to about 3", died completely on the shady side, but is flourishing on
the sunny side.

The gardener has passed away, and we have taken on the lawn care.  I only
want grass so my preschool age son has a place to play that isn't muddy.  I
have a push mower, and i hate the fine grass because it tends to lie down and  
get missed by the mower.  I have a large patch of crab grass in one corner
that didn't bother me--it was lush and green until it got cooler this week, but
it bugged my (traditional) mom, who told me it will die in the winter and
leave mud.  I don't want mud.  I also need to pull some weeds, and then I'll
need to reseed.

That's the longwinded background.  My question is, what do you recommend
with the re seeding?  I need something that is shade tolerant, that I can deal
with with my push mower, and that will stand up to a small child.  I'd also like
to keep watering to a minimum, as it is a pain to get water back there, and
don't want to have to mow twice a week while it's growing fast in order to
keep is short enough to stand up for the push mower.  I'd also like not to
have to spend a fortune on it, in time or money.

Thanks.

Answer
Nice big back yard -- sounds like a kid's Paradise if you ask me.  This is a project with so much potential.  And for various reasons, all of them totally legitimate, you need to minimize expense and labor while maximizing use of the yard.

First, the bad news.

You have got to get a hose or way to water back there.  Look at the bright side: Besides watering your future Lawn, you can get the kids all wet on a hot day in the back yard while they scream their heads off with sheer joy.  Remember how much fun that used to be?  Dashing through the sprinkler on a hot July afternoon?  I do.  It was one of the best things I could hope for and it didn't happen enough as far as I was concerned.  Mr. Beach up the block was putting the sprinkler out at Wendy's house?  Let's go!

But on the practical side, even drought TOLERANT Grass NEEDS water. LOTS of water.  Not every day, but once a week.  Maybe it will rain cats and dogs a few days.  But when it needs it, you have got to water the Lawn.  This is non negotiable.  Unless you want to grow desert Grass and Cactus, which you can't do anyway because you don't have pure Sand and total Sun, you need to water the Grass.  Get a good, long hose and a barrel to store it for the Winter, and hook it up.  Can you do that?  Otherwise, we're going to have to go with another groundcover, which I'll help you with, but I vote for Grass and I know you would rather do that too.

That's all the bad news.  Everything else is manageable and comes with options.

Your traditional Mother may actually be right about the Weed.  If it's Annual Bluegrass, it will be dead by Winter and will be reseeding all over the place the following Spring.

Let's talk about your Soil.  How much work you put into the Soil will determine the life expectancy of your Lawn.  I understand you don't want to expend a lot of energy on a Lawn that you are not related to by blood or marriage, so this is your call.  The better your Soil, the stronger your Grass will be and the more it will hold up to stress and traffic.

You are probably thinking that it's better not to put down fertilizer and lime and winterizer etc because this Lawn is, for you, a short term project, and why should you go through all that time and money and work to build a lawn for the next tenant.  Right?

But the fact is, you probably DO NOT NEED to add ANY fertilizer to that Soil.  Most Soil has everything you need to grow Grass.  I just thought you should know that.  You don't need to feel any guilt about that.  It's a very smart way to do this.  Scotts shareholders won't be happy, but your Grass will be fine and they probably don't know you.  Scotts is faith-based Lawn care.  You are going to grow a science-based Lawn.

However, you should consider -- to the extent you want to do that -- AMENDING your Soil to make it a nice place for Grass to grow.

Home Depot, and probably Lowes, sells a combo Humus/Composted Manure bag.  It's quite heavy, unfortunately, and the bags are often torn and leaky, but if you can get those bags to your yard, the more you get, the better your Grass will grow.  Also pick up a few gigantic bags of Peat Moss.  If you empty these around your yard, especially in sections so that you mix Peat Moss Bag #1 with the Compost, and rake it smooth, you will be off to a nice start.

The Soil in that yard is probably compacted.  The simple answer for that is: Get yourself some Earthworms and 'plant' them back there after you put down the Humus/Manure/Peatmoss Mix.  Earthworms breed rapidly in chemical-free Soil.

Next: A few science-based tools.  Traditional faith-based Lawn Care is a man's job.  It relies on muscle mass.  Science-based Lawn Care relies on biochemistry.  And you don't have to be a biochemist to use it.

There are 2 things to get:

1.  20 years ago, scientists learned that the good Fungus growing in the yard was central to nutrient absorption in practically all angiosperms.  You probably haven't got those now because they are extinct from your yard.  But you can re-introduce them:

www.mycorrhizae.com/index.php?cid=22

You sprinkle the little spores on top of your Home Depot mix and put Grass Seed over it.  They grow together.  The Grass roots secrete chemicals to make friends with the new Fungi, and the new Fungi respond by sending out little hoses over to the roots.  Thousands of these little hoses get hooked up into the roots, and they start to trade.  Fungi get nutrients (which they can't make).  Grass gets water and raw materials.  As they say in that link above, these good Fungi 'provide a variety of benefits for the Grass plant.  This network of filaments obtains 15 major macro and micro nutrients and Water and transport these materials back to the Turf root system.  Mycorrhizae are especially important for uptake of nutrients that do not readily move through the Soil such as Phosphorous and many of the micronutrients.  The elaborate network of hyphae beneath the Soil surface greatly increases the potential of the root system to absorb nutrients and Water.'

You can buy a container for your back yard for around $20.  One brand -- there are many, but this is the one I purchase at Hicks -- is Organica. Their website:

www.organica.net/index.asp

Plugging in your zipcode, I see several local retailers carry Organic products -- but you should call to see if they stock Organica 'Microbial Soil Conditioner':

(1) Hydroponic Garden Centers 146-49 Horace Harding Expwy, Flushing 718-762-8880 (apx 1 mi from your zip)

(2) Garden World, 46 Ave and Francis Lewis Blvd, Flushing 718-224-6789 (apx 4 mi)

(3) A&S Whitestone Nursery, 23-02 Francis Lewis Blvd, Whitestone 718-746-0580 (apx 5 mi)

(4) Hicks Nursery, 100 Jericho Tpke (Route 25), Westbury, Long Island 516-334-0066 (apx 14 mi)

Note:  Not to repeat myself but you want the MICROBIAL SOIL CONDITIONER.  Do NOT substitute their 'Lawn Booster' or some other Organica product.  These are not interchangeable.  You want the Microbial Soil Conditioner.  There are NO Mycorrhizae in Lawn Booster, although it is certainly a great product and in the future you might even use it.  But for now, to build a strong Lawn, you want the Mycorrhizae in Microbial Soil Conditioner.

2.  The other stuff you need right now is Humic Acids.  For this, we go to a Massachusetts company called Neptune's Harvest:

www.neptunesharvest.com

A gallon of their Humate Concentrate is $38 on the internet.  It will boost your Earthworms activity and jumpstart the microbes underfoot.  Buy it on the internet or to save postage you may find it locally, preferably at one of the stores above.  Humic Acids and Humates are NOT REALLY UNDERSTOOD completely, but we know that whether you're growing Grass or Carrots, they are a great way to supercharge your Soil.  'Humic Acid' is mainly organic acids: Sulfur, Nitrogen and Phosphorus.  'Humates' are produced during decomposition of organic matter by microbes.  Decaying wood, rotting leaves, Peat are rich sources of Humic Acid.  Humic Acids boost Nitrogen levels in the Soil and themselves boast soaring ion exchange capacities.  Seeds planted in it germinate faster and grow healthier.  They aid in photosynthesis and trigger enzyme production.   They are the best thing about Humus.  And they are a key to rich, fertile Soil.

You can buy Humic Acids at Healthy Home Mall:

www.healthyhomemall.com/index.html

Now we come to Grass.  You have a mixture of Sun exposures and traffic needs.

Directly under the tree, don't even think about it.  Plant yourself some Ivy, which you can get from a neighbor, and it will root all over the place and climb up the Tree before you know it -- and the Tree will be quite happy.  Alternately, you can try Hosta, which takes a year to establish but it quite tough and can practically glow in the dark if you go back there in the Summer.

Elsewhere, the Grass that is happiest in the situation will grow the strongest; the Grass that is weakest will disappear in that location.

For Grass, I recommend Seedland.com:

www.seedland.com

They offer several choices, but I STRONGLY RECOMMEND the patented Pennington 'Smart Seed' Fescue blend:

www.seedland.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Seedland&Product_Code=FES-SMART-07&Category_Code=

This is getting a little long winded, I know, but I want to make sure you don't end up with just any old Seed because some salesperson doesn't know the difference.

Pennington has a PATENT on their Seed coating.  It's got those microbes we talked about above, little spores waiting to be hatched.  They get the Seed off to a terrific start.  This is not hocus pocus.  Pennington paid to be able to license this technique.  I'll go into more detail if you like; let me know.

Whew!  That's it for now.  Any questions?

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER