Question
Jim,
  There is a large section of my backyard that does not have grass.  This area is very shady and gets flooded due to our neighbor building a sidewalk along the side of this area.  Should I build the soil up before spreading grass seed or sod or is there a grass that grows well in wet situation?   I live in Northwest Arkansas. Thank you,   Tanya


Answer
Hi Tanya,

There may be no easy remedies for a water-logged lawn area.
And if, as you say, the areas are 'very shady',...this may be the main-cause of not being able to grow grasses.  All grasses like good-drainage AND lots of sun-light.  The best grass there is for partial-shade is something like 'Rembrandt' TALL FESCUE.  So try this.

Fixing the drainage problem may be as easy as adding some sand to a high-clay soil.  Or it could be as difficult as a major plumbing-job to intall drainage pipes or collection cisterns and pumps to direct collected water away from the areas. You need to find-out more about your top-soil and why it does not drain normally.  See if it is indeed lots of hard clay (the usual reason).  If so, fixing this may involve removing some of the old stuff and trucking in some better soil.  This may be a little labor-intensive but necessary for a lawn or any sort of ground cover.  Just covering over hard-clay with more soil probably would not help much.  Here again, realize that even with the requirement of good soil,  grasses need lots of sun-light.  So you will have to experiment.  Trying the Tall Fescue, trimming back some of the shade-sources and adding some sand to the existing soil may be the first experiment to try before you go the effort of any 'big-fixes'.

If the shade proves to be too much for grasses, you can start making the areas ready for shade-loving plants and ground covers.  Some of these types of plants will also do ok in damp soils.

Good Luck!
Jim Gibbs,
Microbiologist.