Question
Dear Charlotte B,
I read the answer about the sugar to help in ridding the yard of weeds.  Sounds crazy but I'm sure it works.  I am not one who loves working in the yard in my free time because I get so little of it. However, we are buying a new home on 1.3 acres that is mostly shade.  I don't want a mddy mess year round, so my question is what type of low maintenance grass will grow well in mostly shady areas.  Any other tips you may have would be great as well.

Thank you for your time,
Lee  

Answer
Hi Lee;
Zone six puts you up in blue grass country.
I love bluiegrass, but it is too hot in the summer for it here.
It does require lots of sun though.
Fescues take shade better, so a mixture of these might be best for you.
However, since you don't like gardening that much, and still want a pretty yard, and less mud, I would suggest ground covers.
There are a lot of them with small leaves, larger leaves, diffrent shades of green from very dark to almost a lime green. There a lot of them that will take partial to total shade, and most of them are evergreen, so you have the nice look all year round.
Go to this page, and look at the list offered there.
Chck out the Gardening in the shade for some good information.

http://www.garden.org/searchkeyword=ground+covers&q=search&submit.x=12&submit.y=...

check out a lot of information on this site.
You can have a really lovely garden in a shady ara, that is pretty low maintenance, and looks like you spend all your time on it.
Following an organic program of lawn care cuts out 90% of the work you have to do to keep it weedfree and insect free.
Let nature do the work for you.
Check out the growing conditions of plants before you buy them.
You can find out how tall and how wide they grow, and what kind of care they need.
Carefully choosing your plants, can give you a garden spot with little maintenance.
You can get everygreen plants that bloom in one time or another, turn different colors during different seasons.
there is just so much more that can be done in shade now.
If the ground covers get too full or too much looking, you can just run over them with the awn mower in the early spring, and let the clippings fall to compost under the plants and provide more nourishment for the soil.
Once or twice a year mowing will keep ground covers at a good size.
I have Asian Jasmine in my front yard, under the trees.
I am going to mow it to about 4 inches this later month.
I live in zone 7B, in the Dallas area, and there will not be much  chance of a hard freeze after that.
I planted that over 15 years ago, and I have cut it back once before.
It is just a dark green carpet over the majority of my front yard, (in an area we raised)all year round.
Some ground covers grow only about 4 to 6 inches high. some vine and spread along the area, and some don't, so more of thoise plants have to be put in for complete coverage.
Ferns love shade, and provide a variety of sgades and textures.
A clump of ferns growing under and around the trees, make it look ike a cool forest glade.
Some ferns are also evergreen.
Hostas love shade, and come in all shades, some even giving flowers.
Slugs love hostas, so wait until you have a good population of toads before you put in hostas. Toads eat slugs.
You can put lava gravel around a hosta plant, and that will help keep slugs away. They can't crawl on sharp surfaces like lava gravel and lava rocks.
Go to stores like Lowe's and Home depot, and look at their how to books. You will find a lot of books on gardening, and some will be on shade gardening.
Local nurseries also have how to gardening books.
The nurseries usually have some books addressing the particulars of gardening in your area.
You could have all these lovely shade loving, low maintenance plantings in the shady areas, and have a nice lawn in the sunny area.
It is not really that hard to have a garden that is the envy of all who see it.
Organic gardening is the main ingredient to success.
I know. I spent over 40 years working my self to death trying to grow beautiful gardens and lawns, using chemicals, and had a mediocre success.
Now, I have the mnost beautiful lawn, roses, the whole works, and spend less that 2 hours per week on it.
My hubby mows and edges.
I have no weeds, bugs or kitty cats using my flower beds and container plants for a litter biox.
A handful of lemon peels chopped and scattered in there keep the cats out.
Wish I had known all I know now, 50 years ago.
I might still have a back that works. LOL
Write anytime I can help.
Charlotte