Question
Hello Again,

Thanks for your very thoughtful response to the question below.  We sincerely appreciate you taking your time to give us some advice!

We will checking into the products offered by GardensAlive! and some other ideas you mentioned.  Our yard is very shady.  We love the trees (we have 55 of them on a 3/4 acre lot!) but don't think we'll ever be able to do real well with grass because of the shade.  Your ideas about groundcovers may be the solution!

We may be asking some follow up questions in the very near future - Thanks Again!

Mason & Anne Marie Cannon

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Hi LI Gardener,

Hoping to get some advice from you for our neglected lawn.  We bought a house that has a nice sized lawn - about 3/4 acre - but it was neglected by the previous owner for 20 years.  It's mostly wire-grass and moss, with a variety of weeds.  What would you recommend as a game plan for re-establishing the lawn?  We like the organic idea, as we have a 2 yr old boy that loves to play outside AND we're most definitely not made of money!  We're also not in a big hurry and aren't afraid of getting our hands dirty!  Any advice would be appreciated.  

Thanks - Mason & Anne Marie  

Answer
Mason and Anne Marie, It sounds like you have moved into a house in the woods!  What a beautiful setting you have, 55 trees, only 3/4 acre, where DO you live?  

And how perfect for a child to grow up there.  

It would be costly to invest in all the things you need to get a lawn going, not to mention the time involved.  Your son is going to be busy back there.  

For some basic groundcover advice you can also try the link www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1999/3-19-1999/groundcover.html which has some good drawings and descriptions of your choices.  

Sweet Woodruff is said to be highly fragrant but I regret not having tried it yet.  I have a friend who breeds Hostas, and he has a huge tree-filled back yard with paths lined with all his Hostas, hundreds of them.  The White Flower Farm catalog (which I do NOT recommend you use for purchasing as they are outrageously expensive and are not forthcoming with advice unless you pay their long distance phone call to them) has some beautiful photos of Hostas in the woods taken somewhere in Connecticut.  

Daffodils and Muscari bulbs are great for your situation because they return annually, unlike tulips and many other spring bulbs, and they will be flowering while your trees (which I assume are decicuous) are still not leafing out.  You will have a blast cutting those for indoors in the spring.  Then they go dormant and thrive best when left bone dry all summer.  

Honeysuckle Vines in a sunny spot are wonderfully fragrant for a few weeks during the summer, as long as it has sun a Honesuckle vine will bloom with little blossoms that take over your entire 3/4 acre.  

Coral Bells and Creeping Phlox (see photos at Bluestone Perennials www.bluestoneperennials.com) are more spring flower that brighten the shade.  

Don't forget birdhouses, birdbaths, birdfeeders... and oh yes that all important treehouse.  Good luck and let me know if you need anything else.