Lawns Under Trees and Bushes
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The easy answer is, try not to grow a lawn there. But if you really want to, it is possible. The lawn to the left was sown at the beginning of March and pictured again in the middle of April. It is now ready for over seeding the thin areas and planting the warm season grass plugs for a green lawn all the way through the summer. |
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Grass doesn't like to grow under pine trees. There are many rumors about Soil Acidity etc, so we decided to do an experiment. We took an area of lawn under pine trees, that was completely bare of grass. It had plenty of sunlight, and the soil was the same as the rest of the lawn. We chose St Augustine (a grass that is particularly shade tolerant) and planted some test plugs. We made a point of watering the area more frequently (and separately) from the rest of the lawn. The results were astonishing, in three weeks the grass had established and grown stolons over 12" in length. The grass was also healthy. We did the same with Kikuyu - same result.
It appears that pine needles and dead leaves absorb water in the decomposition process thus preventing moisture reaching the grass underneath. This could also explain why wood chippings mulch applied to flower borders prevents weeds.
Solution:
1) Plant more plugs/Sow more seed. Speak to us about the best match for what you have in your Lawn.
2) Apply Lawns in Spain fertiliser.
3) Water until established.
Not:e: Once established, If you want your grass to grow under trees,
when you water your lawn, you have to apply more
water to those areas.
Growing grass under trees and bushes is no easy task and will require constant attention. The rule is keep removing dead leaves and pine needles. Needles and dead leaves will need to be continuously cleaned up.
Dead leaves and pine needles wiñ kill grass in superfast time. Even a heavy downfall will still leave the ground under trees relatively dry, so additional watering, feeding (and maybe soil
treatment) will be needed.
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