Question
Hi,
My back yard is partial shade and is more weeds than grass.  I was thinking about starting over with a new lawn.  A couple of questions.  1 How do I remove what's there now?  roto tiller?  2 What kind of grass should I use? 3 When should I plant it?  By the way, I live in Media, PA so my zone should be similar to yours.  Thank you.
Jeff

Answer
Jeff, I have mixed thoughts about this and I'll tell you why.

On one hand, one little secret to a terrific lawn - ANY terrific lawn, in full sun, with perfect soil, perfect mowing, etc - is overseeding every few years.  Even the best grass grows past its prime, gets thing and runs out of steam.  So even under the best of circumstances, putting seed down over bare spots is going to be on the list of things to do.

You are suggesting that you might start from scratch if needed.  I always have respect for people who are willing to take on a project with a "whatever-it-takes" attitude.  But starting from scratch, which would include tilling down and wrecking the soil structure -- an extreme measure -- has its drawbacks.  Don't be so fast to jump here to the toughest answer.  Like the most expensive thing on the menu, the most backbreaking answer is not always the best choice.

I just want to make sure we don't do something unnecessarily.

If you can sod, which is an expensive proposition and possibly off the charts depending on your real estate size, you can throw that down right over the grass and forget about the weeds as long as the soil is in great shape.  It's fast and at this time of year, November, time is of the essence.  Generally the rule is that you should start over if you have reached the 50% mark - and "more weeds than grass" sounds like you have hit those numbers.  Just want to make sure you really meant that.  It does sound like you know what you're doing.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's point out that if you pick the seed, you can select a state of the art superseed developed just for partial shade.  This is one of my favorite subjects.

Let's make sure how much shade we are talking about.  No grass will thrive in real shade.  Grass is a full sun perennial.  Some grass will tolerate less sunlight than others.  How much "less" do you have?

The first step, Jeff, is to get more light to that grass if that's possible - you did not mention that trees are the cause of your shade, but if they are you would be wise to open up those trees -- get a good arborist to remove as many shade-producing branches as you can, especially the ones near the ground.  And while we're on the subject, since tree roots compete with anything planted under them for water and nutrients, surrender all plans to grow any grass at all directly under the trees.  Pick your favorite groundcover.  Hostas, pachysandra, ivy.  If you have trees.

OK: Let's see what grass your Zone will grow.

The Seedland.com website map points to Bluegrass, Creeping Red Fescue and Tall Fescue.  These will grow beautifully in your part of the country.  Of these, Creeping Red Fescue is considered the most shade-tolerant.

You can also try a blend.  Seedland (www.seedland.com) has a dense shade mix.  Fescue has a lot of strengths and you can sow it in spring: "Earlier seeding under trees that have shed their leaves will help the Fescue to use the extra early heat to germinate and easily establish before the trees completely leaf out in the spring."  It's also traffic-tolerant and it stays green all year.  If it
isn't colder than 10 below Zero in your region - my notes say it's not - and you want a low maintenance grass that will take pets, BBQs, frisbee and kids - in light shade - this would be a terrific turfgrass choice.

Seedland devotes a full page to Tall and Fine Fescues
(http://www.fescue.com/) - some homeowners find the deluge of information overwhelming, others enjoy the info.  Seedland currently stresses the newly introduced "Defiance XRE" blend, which adds Brown Patch resistance along with improvements in already solid strengths of older varieties.

Lawnseed.com (http://www.lawnseed.com/), which sells a proprietary blend of TMI products for homeowners, simplifies your decision but includes tips on how to grow the best possible grass under a tree canopy or in full sun.  I think that any of these grasses will perform nicely under difficult circumstances in your neck of the woods.  Look over the varieties and see what looks good.

Sowing should be done early in the spring; prime grass sowing season is now past.  Pick a week when temperatures are reasonably warm by the day and crisp in the evening, as soon as you think your soil is warmed up.  Sow light, rather than thick, to give individual blades the least competition and the most light.  Water carefully -- watering is where most homeowners mess up by the way -- and when you finally get to mowing this grass 3-4 weeks later, keep it high; longer blades will be able to photosynthesize more better greens.

You don't have to Rototill.  Aerating is good, but the
best thing for the soil before you sow your grass is to ROUGHLY incorporate humus and manure, even peatmoss, to make it grass-friendly again.  Rototilling disrupts the soil structure and upsets the earthworms.  And if there's anything you want back there, it's earthworms - birds love them, and they churn your soil in the most amazing, chemical free way.

At this point, I hope I do not need to address the dangers of herbicides, pesticides and fungicides to children and dogs, as well as the grownups who love them.  

Consider this: A lifesaver-sized vial of DDT, generally held to be one of the safest pesticides ever used, poured on 4 kindergarten children, will kill 2 of them.  And they do not even have to drink or breathe the stuff.  Just get it on their skin.

It's bad for you, too.

And it's really bad for your soil.

That's because pesticides kill everything down there.  You screw up the Nitrogen cycle with every dose, you destroy microbial life, Earthworms, ladybugs, all God's creatures with those chemicals that kill kill kill.  And once the balance of Nature is off, things like fungus begin to appear and then you have a REAL problem on your hands.  Remember that things like "Weed N Feed" and "RoundUp" are precisely what we're talking about.  They may sound pretty, but they are murder on grass and soil.

Sorry for the encyclopedia.  I get a little carried away sometimes.

Any questions?