planting grass under trees

[Anonymous Poster]

I have added some fill dirt and leveled off an area of my yard right under 2 full size (2' dia trunk) maple trees. I was planning to plant grass and cover the seeds with straw like I always do, but realized I have a problem. In about a month, the leaves are going to be coming down and cover the new grass. Normally, I just rake them up, but now I'm afraid I won't be able to rake the leaves without raking the straw and killing the new grass at the same time. Any ideas how to handle this?

[ecard]

One possible solution would be to use the grass fabric sold in rolls. I would guess you could use a blower to remove leaves without disturbing the fabric. Of course it would depend on the size because I am sure it is more expensive. They also sell the patch grass seed that looks like blow-in insulation but it is pretty pricey as well.

Eric

[TerryinMD]

I suggest that you mix some annual or perenial (sp?) rye in with your favorite seed. You may wish to put down a little straw if you think necessary. The rye should germinate in a week to hold the soil. Once the leaves start falling, the rye should be high enought to protect the other germinating seed. After the rye is a couple of inches tall, you should be able to go in a rake off any leaves.

Good luck,
Terry.

P.S. - You could also mix in a small amount of clover. I do that to cut down on using fertilizer.

[Mac624]

Hi!
I believ the September is the last month to seed some grass, it could be to cold to do this now, best time is April to June.
Under trees the best is a mixture from grass seeds named "shadow grass" ( in german:Schattenrasen)
Bernhard

[Knight9]

Not sure I agree with this. I just planted my grass seed a few weeks ago (in Sept) and it is growing nicely. I was told by all the seed companies I talked to that early fall is actually a better time to plant grass than early spring because in the fall you get less competition from weeds that are raring to go in the spring. In any event, my grass is coming up nicely [img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img].

Kevin

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks everyone for your input. I guess I'll take the advice of TerryinMD. I had a hard time finding an annual rye grass (tried Walmart, Lowes, Quality, and Big Blue) and finally found some at a local nursery. They have it on hand because people plant it in their gardens in the fall, so I'm going to try that too. I'll also plant my regular grass seed and see what happens. At worse case I'll have to replant it in the spring, but at least the rye grass will keep it the dirt in place through the winter.

[TerryinMD]

Danny,

For your garden use Winter Rye. Totally different stuff for adding green manure to the garden area. Winter Rye seed looks like small grain rice. If fact you just reminded me to have the CFO purchase some for our garden.

Good luck,
Terry