Go with the wood chips and start a shady perennial garden. If you've tried three times to grow grass with no luck, it's time to move on.

grass doesn't grow in the shade. never meant to. isn't intended to. don't care what 'shady mix' you put down, it's not going to work.

if it's going to get dog play, wood chips (or coarse mulch, since I agree with you that the hardwood chips look like hell) are the way to go, with room for shade perennial beds- tall Ostrich and short japanese ferns, astilbes, hostas, hellbores, heck, my old ditch lillies don't bloom as hard in the shade, but they do bloom!

bleeding hearts and hydrangeas... you can have your green, without struggling with grass.

I have a very shady back yard. Large Tulip Poplars everywhere, plus the house blocks a lot of the sun. Anyway, always had trouble keeping the grass growing. Last year we bought the Shady Nooks seed and put that down. Wow, this Spring I can't believe the difference in our lawn were there used to be dirt. So far, so good. I will have to wait and go through summer to really see how well it does. But so far, where there was always dirt before, we have grass now and I'm a happy camper.

Here is what they say about it:

Shady Nooks Grass Seed by Jonathan Green

FOR THE BEST LAWN IN TOWN.
A mixture of shade tolerant grasses for heavily shaded lawn areas.

Grows in Dark - dank corners and nooks where shade and poor drainage is a problem.
Contains Perennial Grasses that blend well with existing lawn when re-seeding.
Excellent for starting a new lawn or re-seeding thin lawns.
Germinates in 10 to 14 days, for fast coverage.

Heavy tree cover also inhibits grass from growing due to sucking up much of the moisture. The grass, until quite well established, would need heavy irrigation. It's not just a matter of the right seed.

Thanks for all the input! I think I might try one more time and order the Shady Nooks seed and see how that goes. This will be my last effort at grass in the back though.

Thanks again!
Kristy :)

you will never ever get grass to grow in deep shade in zone 4, I don't care what variety it is. Shade-loving perennials work, although even then you have to be selective this far north. I have a beautiful "shade" garden in Vermont that actually gets 3-4 hours sun.....it's so cool that I wonder if it were totally shaded, if these same plants would bloom (dicentris; aconitum; digitalis grandiflora, etc.) these plants like full shade further south, but here they appreciate the sun! Also, with perennials, you obviously can't walk on it. If you want a WALKABLE shade groundcover, then your best bet is sweet woodruff. Grows beautifully in shade, smells lovely, and easy to yank out if you decide you want to mix it up with perennials (unlike many groundcovers, which can be hard to get rid of.)

I actually stumbled on it by accident tonight and didn't realize until just now how old your posting was. i'm sure you've got a good plan by now!

What time of year is best to plant a seed blend like Shady Nooks Grass Seed by Jonathan Green? And does anyone have any tips or advice about planting grass for a lawn in general? I live in Albuquerque, NM, and we're trying to get some grass growing in a couple of pretty densely shaded areas of my parents' lawn.

Thank you.

PS: I was going to post this question as a separate thread, but then I came across this old one and thought it better to resurrect it and have all the information together. Is it better to start another thread?

Better to start a new thread. Threads older than a few months (let alone nearly 10 years!!) seldom get the interest or traffic a new thread does.

And since lawn type and timing of planting varies widely depending on location, you might be best posting this in your regional, Southwestern Gardening forum. At this time of the year planting a lawn from seed is not advised even in my very mild, cool summer Maritime climate.