Grass that will cover red clay in NC now.

julieramsey0327 – posted 23 March 2006 14:31

I just found this site and hope to find someone that is knowledgeable about grass and red clay. I have just bought a home that was built in 1972, and from the looks of it, the owner(s) have never done anything to the yard. The whole yard has several large, old, established oak trees and is very shaded all over. The front yard is basically nothing but moss, but at least it is green and doesn’t look too terrible from the road, so we aren’t going to do anything to the front yard for now. (We are gutting the entire inside of the house and remodeling it ourselves, so there’s not much time for the yard yet.) However, the back yard is more of a problem for us because we have 2 yellow labs that are actually indoor dogs, but since the back yard is fenced in with a 5 foot fence, we let them spend a few hours a day outside. This is great when it hasn’t rained for a while, but the back yard is mostly red clay/moss/leaves, and when it rains, I have to put them on leashes and let them out the front to ‘do their business’ and I can’t let them run much for a couple of days til the mud dries. My question is: Is there a grass that will grow on red clay this time of the year? I don’t even care if it is more of a weed, I just want some kind of ground cover to keep their paws from getting completely covered with red mud. I thought about throwing out some pinestraw or hay, but the back yard is on a pretty good slant and it would probably wash right down the hill. Any suggestions? (Again, I am not concerned with the cosmetic beauty of it, but just want the ground covered. My e-mail address is

ju*************@ya***.com











. If you have a moment to respond I would greatly appreciate it. – Julie