Moss is growing because the PH level of your soil is wrong for grass. If you apply liberal amounts of lime it will kill the moss and change the PH level. Some pre-emergent fertilizer will probably help too.

Moss doesn't grow in full sun. It needs shade. If the area is growing moss well, but not grass, then you may need to explore alternative groundcovers other than grass that will thrive in the shade.

When I bought my house the yard was in such bad shape that it was almost completely moss, in both the sun and shade. After aerating, seeding, composting, and applying lots of lime, 18 months later I have grass. It's possible to do, but I admit that finding another ground cover would have been easier.

Growing grass? We have the same problem. This year we went with grass seed that's suppose to grow in the shade. After putting it down we covered it with conservative amount of hay (The hay we didn't do last year). Some is just starting to come up, but nothing impressive. Thanks ispoildogs for the lime idea. Gonna try it on small test area

Grow something other than grass for humanity's sake, the world is full of hungry people and the current largest crop worldwide is grass. If you think about it that's very sad. We need to rethink.

@Mark Wisecarver : You are right. If we look into USA past we see at the beginning that the USA government was giving land away...the condition to getting this 'free' land was that the whoever wanted this 'free' land had to grow crops on it. I love my country and this idea which i believe is passe in our day, i shall never forget

Unfortunately, in our case, our land is so small that growing crops on it won't provide any yield as to benefit anybody, but Mark Wisecarver i know/hear your passion

Could you grow fruit or nut (ex: walnut, almond) trees in the space?

Mark Wisecarver: I would like nothing better than to help eliminate world hunger by growing food rather than grass but I live in a suburb. I appreciate your sentiment but not only do I not have enough land to make a difference, the squirrels, foxes, birds, and deer will eat anything I grow. So, I choose to give wildlife a place to feed by using natural substances and methods to grow my grass. Most of my neighbors use chemicals to fertilize, and kill weeds and bugs so all the wildlife comes to my yard to eat, and I like it that way. I am even looking for an appropriate place in my yard to put a bat box, for natural mosquito control. I just wanted to make the point that growing grass does not automatically mean a person is insensitive to ecological and humanitarian issues.

I live in a very wet area where we have tons of moss to the point we have to use a pressure washer to get it off the walkways, and we still manage to have a gorgeous lawn.

Put down some moss killer, and when it turns black, rake it up or use the thatching attachment on your lawn mower to pull it out. Then put down your grass seed, cover it with peat moss and water it good. You might need to aerate your lawn as well as applying lime to it to help with the drainage. Use a good organic fertilizer in the spring and fall.

If you have problems, go to gardening websites and look up the problem. My husband does all this, and we have one of the best yards in the area as he has taken the time to look up how to solve the problems.

Well, I can tell that Sophie has never been to Oregon. I have perennial ryegrass growing in full sun. I keep it at about 3". In the middle of this unusually hot summer, I can part the blades and find areas with patches of healthy green moss. You don't say where you live, or what type of grass you are trying to grow, but haleydaniels is giving good advice by suggesting Mossout and peat. If you let the seed dry out after planting it, you can water & water and the grass will never sprout.