Winter sod in Atlanta

 Hi,

I have a home in Atlanta.  The lawn pretty much torn up because of the work
that has been ongoing on the property.  Most of the lawn is just plain soil
now.  The lawn gets little direct sunlight, maybe a few hours a day.  I am
pretty bad at maintaining a lawn.  I'm frequently out of town, so the lawn
should be pretty resillient.  I've heard three recomendations from sod
placed and from this group:

St. Augstine:  Good in the shade, but won't handle the winter.  I may not be
able to instal it now.

Fescue: Good in the shade, but very delicate. Someone who is frequently away
may not be able to keep it alive, especially in the summer.

Zoysia: Good year-round and OK for the shade, but may not be able to install
it now.

Are there any other options?  I really would like to put something down but
I can't figure out what to do.

Thanks,

Josh

 Josh, you might consider planting winter rye grass, which is an annual
grass. You would plant seed now, and it would die once the hot humid summer
weather starts in May. At that time you could plant the zoysia if that's the
kind of sod you would like to have. Winter rye is the grass that is planted
in bermuda and centipede grass lawns to keep them green during the winter
months when those grasses go dormant and turn tan.

install

 You can't expect much of a grass lawn with only few hours of sun.
Lawns typically require some maintenance to look good.  Look around in
your neighborhood to see who has similar conditions with a low
maintenance ground cover.  I take after-dinner walks and get all kinds
of ideas, plus get to know neighbors better.  There is one part of my
lawn where the grass did not grow well due to the shade, and I planted
a low-maintenace fern garden with several varieties and edged with
miniature mondo grass--5 years later, wow!  All I do is mulch it once
a year with compost and so far the deer have not touched it.

On Fri, 02 Jan 2004 18:43:18 GMT, "Josh Kalish"

 

install

I think overseeding the area with winter rye is a  good choice......

 
If you mean annual rye grass, I agree that overseeding with it is a good
choice. Winter rye is just too big and couse for a lawn, makes an excellent
green manue crop however,