Although grass grows best in sunny areas, many people want a nice lawn under and around trees. No grass will grow for long in dense shade, but with proper care, you can grow a reasonably nice lawn in partial shade.

To grow any turf worth having, you need an area that gets roughly 50% sunlight. This can be filtered through trees or it could mean several hours of full sun and the rest of the day, diffused and/or filtered light.

To increase light, prune out branches to thin the trees where possible. Sometimes pruning off the lowest branches helps. If attractive turf is really important to you, you may choose to remove some of the less desirable trees. These steps alone may improve the quality of your lawn.

The next step to growing good grass in shady areas is to make sure you choose shade-tolerant turf grasses. The most shade-tolerant types are fine-leaved fescues, such as creeping red fescue and chewing fescue. These should be mixed with Kentucky blue grass varieties such as Glade, Nugget, Touchdown, or Sydsport which have a slight degree of shade tolerance. A mix of 2 parts fescue to 1 part bluegrass is good for shady places.

The next thing to consider in establishing and maintaining a lawn in shady areas is fertilizer. Grass grows more slowly in shade than sun. Slower-growing grass cannot make use of as much fertilizer. Furthermore, fine fescues, even when grown in good sunlight, need only half the fertilizer that Kentucky bluegrass needs. Fertilize three times a year (around Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Halloween), at half the normal rate. Heavier rates may damage the turf.

Fine fescues are more drought-tolerant than bluegrasses. This is good since trees deflect some of the gentle summer rains, limiting the amount of moisture the grass receives, and their roots compete with grass for whatever moisture does reach the ground. For good turf, shaded areas usually need one heavy soaking a week during the hotter part of the growing season. As weather cools in late August and September, a soaking every 10 to 14 days should be adequate. Ample rainfall can make even that unnecessary.

Mowing is another lawn care practice that differs for shady lawns. Since the main limiting factor is lack of light, shady grass needs more leaf surface for photosynthesis. Keep grass a bit on the long side; usually above 3". Cut the grass before it gets to 4 ½" high. Because fine fescues are a bit thin and wispy, they tend to lie down in front of the mower, so be sure to keep your mower blades sharp.

The final lawn care practice that really helps shaded lawns is prompt leaf removal in autumn. Shady lawns are easily smothered by heavy leaf fall. Fine fescues are rather shallow-rooted and prone to growing in clumps, so hard raking can tear them out. It's best to use a light-weight bamboo or plastic rake, or a blower or yard vacuum. Remove the leaves several times in autumn and again in the early spring to allow as much light as possible to reach the grass.

De-thatching is usually not needed because the types of grass that are good in shade rarely create a thick thatch layer. If your soil is heavy and compacted, however, core-aeration may be useful each fall.

No matter how well you care for it, shaded grass may thin over the years. The best time to overseed is between August 15th and September 15th. You could also seed in early spring before trees leaf out, but competing weed seeds will be stirred up. The resultant weeds will compete with seedling grass. (Many annual weeds pose much less problem in shade than in a sunnier location.)