Lawns with moss and shade – Gardening Advice

Two of the most common questions the GardenAdvice Team receive on lawns are about shade and moss 
Moss on lawns – often moss it not caused by bad drainage allow its often a combination of heavy soils and incorrect pH with the soil to acid or too alkaline – moss points to it being to acid. Although fine grasses need a slightly lower soil pH at a certain point the soil pH becomes to low or to high and suits mosses so they are able to access the nutrients and grass struggles to do so resulting in thinning grass and more moss growth. 
scarification can be used to remove moss but again it comes down again to soil pH the purpose of scarification is to remove thatch created from moss or dead grass and to encourage more grass shoots but if the soil pH is correct the natural bacteria etc in the soil should break down the thatch and save you the job of scarification. 
Lawns in Shade – With regards to the shade areas created by trees we normally recommend overseeing these areas of lawn in the spring or the autumn with Fescue ruby or Poa pratensis. These grasses are better suited to shade conditions. In addition we recommend cutting the grass slightly higher in shady area because less light is available to help it recover. 
Or if its a really shady area you might consider creating a lawn from Micro Clover. 
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