Question
Me and my husband recently bought a house in KY. The previous owner had two dog pens in the back yard and alot, ALOT of Flower,Plants and everything you can think of in the back yard. It was nice to look at no doubt but we have a child and her flowers and plants take up 90pct of the back yard. We would like to clear it up a bit so our kids will have a place to play in a fenced in are. We have taken up the dog pens and found holes galore underneith. She had everything under the sun stuffed under them to keep them from digging (ie pillows, egg crate, rugs, i mean everything. The yard has  Big tree everything is based around in the center of it so it casts shade on alot of the back yard. On top of that all her gardening was done on tarps. Under these tarps is pretty much a worm bed. No grass, just wet dirt mainly.  Also our yard seems to be popping up with grass islands. We would like to take up some of these plants and fill in the dog pen holes and also help the grass that seems to be just spotting around the yard and make it a back yard for our kids to play in. What can we do?  Thanks

Answer
Sounds like you are in for some heavy lifting in the back yard, Jamie.

Just remember to take pictures before you start this work.  Maybe even a video tour since you have such interesting stuff back there.  It'll be the Movie of the Week when you and your family get together next Thanksgiving.  I'm not kidding -- Before and After shots, you'll thank me!

I just don't know where to begin.  And I'm not even doing the work.

Let's see.  You mentioned a tree "casts shade on a lot of the back yard".  That pretty much limits your choices here, Jamie.  I think to be perfectly honest that grass in the back yard is going to be a bad idea.  It will never look picture perfect no matter what you put on it, how much you fertilize, no way no how.

Let's not forget how great a tree is.

I mean, there is a reason someone wrote a poem to make the point "lovely as a tree..."  They're great for climbing.  You can hang the ultimate swing from its branches (usually to be done right, you have to remove a few limbs so it will swing properly -- but I strongly encourage either a tire swing or a rope/wood swing hanging out of that tree -- your kids will LOVE it, much more than an ordinary swing set).

There is the matter of children climbing all over it.  And if you had an architect in the family you could set up a tree house.  In my neighborhood there are 2 that are so elaborate they both have electric power.

Let's not forget about the birds.  That means you'll need a small collection of hanging bird feeders and birdbaths, along with a good birdhouse or two or three.

The ground needs SOMETHING because mud is not a pretty sight, and no fun to walk on.

Here, you have a few options much better than grass.

If you are planning on a BBQ'ing summer, you will need a deck or stones.  You can do flagstones separated by moss or other low-light groundcover.  I don't think you are ready for low-light perennials here yet so I won't go into those, but moss is easy and will do much better than grass.  If there is any sun in that area, creeping thyme is excellent, plus you can cook with it.

For the rest of the yard, look at some of these solutions on the "Troubleshoot Your Landscape" pages (http://www.gardenideas.com/gardening_advice/gardeningadvice_troubleshoot.html).

The area directly next to the tree trunk will need Pachysandra, Hosta or Periwinkle to look nicest.

Any part of the back yard that has 6-8 hours of full sun can grow Tall Fescue.  Since this tends to grow in clumps, you may already be looking at some back there.  Overseed.

Of course, the soil has to be carefully conditioned.  Luckily, these people were raising Earthworms.  You have no idea how happy that makes me, Jamie.

Those Earthworms will turn any part of your compacted backyard soil into black gold.  Keep them back there and feed them in the sunnier parts of the "lawn".  To do that you'll need to LIGHTLY till and incorporated Humus, Compost and -- my favorite -- Starbucks Coffee Grounds (used) in there.  The Starbucks is free.  Take a garbage pail down there and ask for them.  They'll be a little confused, but they'll hand them over -- and you'll start a trend.  There is nothing like those Coffee Grounds to make the neighborhood Earthworms want to live in your back yard.

Something tells me you have a significant Clay problem.  If so, the Earthworms will solve that for you.

Meanwhile, order state of the art grass seed online from a specialist.  My favorite is Seedland.com (www.seedland.com) but you can find others.  Get their premium Tall Fescue (great for foot traffic and light shade tolerant).  No weed seeds.

A little caution should also be exercised here.  I point out that I am a Dog Person -- I have 2 and they are my best friends.  But dogs come with parasites and those parasites will survive up to 4 years in the soil.  The problem here is that children will also be playing back there.  Daily baths and careful handwashing is not a gardening topic -- but I do want to mention it.  A soil test will tell you if those dogs left anything undesirable behind.

Sorry to have to raise that possibility but you heard it here first.  Without a dog, I would never have known.

All that said, let me know if you would like elaboration on any or all of the above.  Thanks for writing.