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The best grass seed for shady areas

Does your lawn have a shady reputation? Well you are not alone! Unsurprisingly, most lawns in the UK will suffer from some level of shade. This often means that your grass will struggle to grow and shop-bought mixes just won’t do the trick!

The best grass seed for shady areas

Keep scrolling to find out more about what shade you have on your lawn and how to choose the best grass seed for shady areas!

Shade types in areas in your garden

Some lawns are shadier than others, but the main two suspects you will find in your garden are dappled and blocked shade.

Dappled shaded areas

Dappled shade is a light shade in your garden often caused by trees. This type of shade likes to stay active, so it will rarely stay in the same spot throughout the day, making it tricky for regular grass seeds to grow.

Blocked areas of heavy shade

Blocked shade is caused by overhanging trees, fences or high-rise walls and will cast a permanent shadow on your lawn, meaning your grass will require special seeds to grow in these conditions fully.

Issues that areas of shade cause on your lawn

Grass needs three things to grow – heat, light and water. When it doesn’t get enough of these, it has to draw energy from its reserves to survive, and this can cause thinning and patchiness in your lawn. Moss also likes to hang around in shady areas due to moisture retention, causing the area to become extremely damp, making grass nearly impossible to grow. If you have a lot of shade on your lawn, you may be well used to this and might have given up on trying to grow grass entirely. Likewise, if you have dappled shade and one area of your lawn doesn’t look quite as good as the rest – you may be tearing your hair out trying to find a solution. Well look no further – all you need is the right grass seed!

Get grass seed for shady areas!

When growing a shady lawn, store-bought seeds simply won’t cut it. This is because they are created to suit general lawn use and general lawn conditions. For this reason, they fail to include the correct seeds for growing in low light conditions, so we recommend you save time and money by making sure you get the right mix – such as our Shade Supreme Lawn.

Shade-loving grass seeds

The important thing to remember about shaded grass seed mixes is that they contain grass seeds that tolerate shade – which means they can also grow in the light! So, who are these mysterious seeds and what makes up our Shade Supreme Lawn mix?

  • Perennial Ryegrass: Perennial ryegrass is a people pleaser and an all-rounder that grows fast and is extremely hardwearing. We added it to our mix as we know shaded lawns need to be hardwearing too.
  • Strong Creeping Fescue: This shady seedling likes to take its time and grow slower than the rest of the mix, adding fine spear-like leaves that love to grow in low-light areas of your garden.
  • Smooth Stalked Meadow Grass: Known for its excellent repair capabilities, this seedling will add some much-needed life back into your shady garden while providing density to the mixture.
  • Sheeps Fescue: Non-complainer, particularly low maintenance, and loves to grow in poor soil conditions, making it perfect to handle your shady areas.

Making up the magic mix, our Shade Supreme Lawn takes over where other grass seed fails, reigning supreme for tackling the shaded areas in your garden!

How to look after your shady areas grass seed

Do not forget that the seedlings still need your help to work their magic! Visit our How to Hub for all the info on giving your seedlings life. You should continue caring for your seedlings daily by watering them for the first six weeks. However, you can treat yourself to a day off if there is a period of prolonged rainfall. The final step is to give your seedlings their first mow when they have grown up to 5-7cm - after that, sit back and look over a lawn beaming with green, whether in the sun or shade.

How to feed your lawn

Why not go the extra mile for your seedlings after they have worked so hard for you? Try applying our Pre-Seed First Feed or All Summer Long feed to keep those shaded areas you have worked so hard to achieve healthy and green! Or, after the big occasion of your new lawn’s first mow, apply our Oh So Green to give your lawn an intense 6-week boost giving your lawn a green glow that any admirers will remember.

Mixing grass seed for shady areas

Unlike your science teacher, we won’t tell you off for mixing our products, in fact, we would encourage it in certain circumstances! If you find yourself trying to tackle the issue of a clay garden with shaded areas, we recommend you use our New Build Dream Lawn and mix it with our Shade Supreme Lawn to achieve the perfect results.

Our grass seed for shady areas mixture will be more than able to handle the clay soil in your garden, so you won’t have to worry about a mixed bag of results! If clay soil proves your lawn care nightmare, check out our guide on How to improve your clay garden.

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Shade Supreme Lawn
  • Shaded Area Grass Seed
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