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  (March) We have a thirty ear old pin oak tree in our front yard. There isn't a lot of sun under the tree, and as the years have gone by, there is less and less Bermuda grass. The ground is covered in green moss. What can we do to get the grass growing again and get rid of the moss?

  Growing grass underneath a large shade tree can be difficult, if not impossible. First, do you need grass everywhere in the yard? You may want to attempt grass in the areas where shade is not so intense, and let the moss or other groundcover grow where the shade is deepest. Zoysia grass, turf-type tall fescue, or for central and southern Arkansas-Centipede and St. Augustine, will all tolerate more shade than Bermuda, but all will need some filtered light to grow. Have the soil tested to determine the pH and fertility levels, and then assess the situation. Trees and shade are great-especially in the summer, so I would never advocate removing them to grow grass. I personally wish we grew more moss, but not everyone would agree with me!

  (July) I live in Cherokee Village on the south golf course. The lot slopes from the golf course to the road in front, so when it rains heavily a lot of water drains from the course. To combat this I had a trench (not french) drain installed. This starts from the lower side at 2 ft and progresses to 7 ft deep at the top side and was filled with clean gravel. This works great. Then topsoil was brought in and the lot leveled and rye and tall fescue was planted in February. The grass has grown. I am mowing at a 3 inch level now, but the grass is brown in many areas. I now think I'd like to plant wild flowers on the entire lot and leave it to nature. It's far enough away from the house with a gravel cart path between them. I just don't know how to go about this. Do I dethatch first, aerate, use a power seeder? What type of flower? I just want to get out of mowing this lot. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

  Both of the grasses you mentioned are cool season grasses, and would do better for us in the shade. If you have sun, your wildflowers will do better. Creating a wildflower garden can reduce your mowing, but will still need a little maintenance. One of the biggest issues with a wildflower planting is grass. You would need to kill the grass completely before sowing wildflower seeds. As clean a bed as possible will give you the best results. If the erosion problem has been contained, start killing the grass. I would try scraping off as much as you can, adding organic matter and then tilling the site thoroughly. Then when the grass and weeds have resprouted-which some will always do, kill the grass and weeds using a herbicide like round-up or cover the site completely with clear plastic and solarize it. The best time to sow wildflower seeds is in October. A diverse mix of annuals and perennials is best, so you can have some blooms the first year. Do be aware that this will not be a fabulously gorgeous garden twelve months out of the year. You have to let them get a bit "weedy" to set seeds each season, and some cutting and cleanup will be needed.

  (October) I need some advice. We have a partly shady yard (hardwoods) and have just brought in some fill dirt. We want to do something to keep it from being a mud hole this winter. Would you recommend fescue or should we try to get some sod? We can't afford to sod the whole area. We have both zoysia and St. Augustine in the yard. St Augustine seems to do best.

  If you plan to eventually have zoysia or St. Augustine, then just seed with some perennial or annual ryegrass to get a cover for the winter. Then when you are ready to sod, you can till in the grass, and plant. Or you can do half and half, if you want to defer some expenses. I do think St. Augustine is your best option for south Arkansas shade.

  (December) After the trees are completely bare, is it a good idea to clean all the leaves off the lawn and the ivy beds? Or would a cover of leaves serve as protection during a hard winter? What about letting leaves or pine needles around the base of holly bushes?

  A light covering of leaves is not bad -- as long as you can still see the lawn or ivy, but a heavy layer of leaves can pack down and exclude sunlight, oxygen and water, so do rake up the big piles.

Pine needles and leaves can serve as a mulch around the base of shrubs with no problems.

  I moved here this summer from the Great Lakes area, and the lawn grasses here are a mystery to me. I planted a small patch of Bermuda grass, but neighbors explained that it is very invasive. Could you give me a rundown on the best lawn grasses and their characteristics?

  If you are used to cool season lawns, you are in for a shock with running warm season grasses. Bermuda does grow quickly, and can get into flower beds and vegetable gardens. It is the easiest lawn to grow, provided you have plenty of sunlight. It is the most drought tolerant, and responds the best to heavy traffic. Zoysia grass is another option for sun to partial shade. It needs to be sodded or plugged, and does form a thick carpet. It too, has runners, but they aren’t as persistent as Bermuda. The other two options for southern Arkansas, are St. Augustine and centipede. Both of these lawn grasses have coarse foliage, but form low growing thick turf. St. Augustine will do well in both sun or shade. Centipede will do well in partial sunlight, and is very slow growing and slow to get established, but doesn’t require much in the way of mowing. Neither of these grasses tolerate traffic well, and watch out if you are using herbicides. They are more sensitive. They form nice lawns in the south, and often get thick enough to keep weeds away. St. Augustine should be sodded or plugged. Centipede can be grown from seed, but it is very slow to establish. For warm season grasses, spring to early summer is the best time for establishment.

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