Question
we live in an older home-our lawn is terrible- both neighbors have thick beautiful lawns- ours is very dry looking and a lot of bare spots especially around shaded areas. I just had the lawn aerated. My question is 1)do i remove the plugs,2) should we get topsoil first on all of the dry areas before we seed 3)i've tried every grass seed out there for shady areas what do you recommend 4)we also have BIG pine trees in the very bACK OF our yard --- what will grow underneath?   thank you very much   we live in the midwest.

Answer
Hi g apke,

You have submitted three questions:

[01]
With a putting-green quality lawn, you will usually want to remove the debris of an aeration event.
If the excavated plugs are an appearance problem,...you may rake-up any soil-plugs from the surface, this should leave the top-soil with voided cores that are what the aeration process is all about. Much depends upon the physics of your soil and the height of the surrounding grass, some soils are more friable than others and the plug residual material will fill in all the core-works with the first major rain or watering and this will cancel-out the wanted effects.

[02]
Adding any better soil or soil amendments can always contribute to easier and more predictable greens-keeping future.  Most soils will benefit.  If you already have A+ top-soil, you may skip any addition of other material, and simply work to make the soil more friable for seeding. This means the soil have a surface that will be more receptive to the seed and this can often be achieved by raking the areas to make the soil granular and less compacted.  Lawns will sometimes have 'hot-spots' in the mid-late summer, and these areas can greatly benefit from  adding moisture holding soil amendments.  Wherever you have trouble with drainage or dry-soil, it will help to work-in soil amendments such as better soils, composts and manures.  All of these soil amendments can be found at the lawn-and-garden center.

[03]
As far as I know,...
Still the best grass seed for shade on the market these days is a cultivar of a TALL FESCUE.  Varieties named 'Rembrandt' or 'Plantation' have out-rated more than 100 other hybrids in university testing. These varieties are widely available or their slight variations.  Fescues may weaken and manifest appearance problems when summer temperatures rise above 85 degrees F.  In Hort-Zones 7+,...these and other cool-climate grasses will have to be re-seeded often and every fall to keep-up a dense coverage.  If you cannot find a specific hybrid, you can experiment with others until you find one that suites you.

[04]
Azaelas, Rhododendrons, Viburnum, Hostas, lilies, Hedera (Ivies), Liriope, Ilex (Hollies), Euonymus (creeping type), Vinca,...the lists goes on for shady areas and for plants that like an acidic soil which is typical under old-pine trees, and especially where the pine needles have accumulated on the ground over the year to make this type of soil. You can purchase an inexpensive test-kit at the garden center to test the 'pH' which is a measure of the acidity.  Anything less than 7 will indicate good conditions for at least the plants mentioned above.  Acidic soils are like 'forest-soils' and are usually rich, acidic, and well-draining.
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With a good fertile-loamy well draining top-soil, best quality hybrid grass type(s), 1-3 inches of water per week, plenty of sun-light, ...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!
Have a fantastic Summer!

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