Dandelions.
You can smoke it ?
I call St. Augastine sod a weed. It’s crab grass by another name. Bermuda grass doesn’t spread as bad. I wouldn’t say it’s a weed.
The problem with Bermuda is that when flying in to the island, your plane is apt to disappear without a trace....
Growing up in Memphis, Bermuda was always the favored.
It does, however, require sun and a light to sandy soil.
When I moved to the countryside, I was more into grass that did not need to be so manicured.
Fescue should be the best for you.
It does tolerate some shade.
In heavy shade, you should have beds of shade tolerant ground covers such as vinca, not grass.
There are many that will thrive in shade, and require minimum care and maintenance.
All areas can be different, depending on many variables from
PH and weight of the soil, to temperature extremes.
I think you are going to have a problem with bermuda and that much shade.
My SiL had bermuda in the area between the sidewalk and street. He put the fertilizer to it and it looked as good as his zoysia lawn.
I’ll never forget my surprise on moving from S.Fla to Raleigh, NC and seeing a St. Augustine lawn, complete with chinch bugs. !!
There are so many possibilities. Pardon me for a moment while I “triangulate” a response.
My guess is that in more northerly “Southern” areas, where bluegrass and fescue grow, Bermuda can move in and ruin the look of the lawn. Bermuda has a very low, dense growth habit, and has to be kept cut at less than 1” or it gets stalky and weedy looking, whereas “northern” grasses are much more upright, and are usually cut to a height of 3-4”. If Bermuda gets into an established lawn, it’s going to make it look like it has developed mange.
I forgot to mention....Any plant or grass that grows where you do not want it is a weed.
Bermuda, in good conditions, will spread to areas where you do not want it, as in flower beds.
It has a running root system and can spread rapidly.
A weed is any plant that is not where a human wants it.
Check with local landscapers, nurserymen, etc. Is there a native grass that might fit your needs?
Here in Texas, the native grasses (big and little bluestem, sideoats, buffalo grass) flourish, but the suburbanits still think they must have St. Augustine. All this does is waste water.
Fescue stays green all winter. Bermuda doesn’t. Fescue stays where you put it. Bermuda doesn’t.
Trying to grow grass under an oak tree is nearly impossible. Your soil will test to be highly acidic, probably in the 4.0-5.5 pH range. Vinegar runs about 4.0. Add the shade and heavy clay soil and you might just forget about it.
You will notice that the oak leaves do not decompose as they are contain high levels of tanic acid. Tanic acid is used in the tanning process to preserve leather. Clay soil is loaded with nutrients, but due to the the high acid content it does not allow them to become available to ground plants, grasses included.
If you are bound and determined to grow grass under the oak trees you might try applying 10 lbs. of pelletized gypsum (calcium sufate) per 100 sq. ft. to the surface along with decomposed organic humus (do not use peat moss as it is also very acidic), roto-till about 6” deep and find a shade loving type grass seed. The gypsum will break up the clay soil and allow it to breathe and allow the humus to mix with the highly nutritious clay soil and bring you pH up to acceptable levels.
The best and most available organic material is probably decomposed cow manure. Avoid horse or chicken manure because it is too rich in nitrogen and will most likely ‘burn’ your grass. It’ll grow like hell at first, but then turn brown and die off.
Have you thought about growing a ground cover like vinca minor (periwinkle) or sweet woodruff? There are many ground cover type plants that would do much better than grass and you don’t have to mow it! Remember that nature is as persitent as a spring and it will strive to return the area back to it’s original form.
If it were me, I’d let it just remain a forest setting and go fishing instead.
Just my opinion.
Bermuda is great here. Of course I like any grass that I can graze the horses on when their pasture gets low.
Bermuda grass sucks! I can’t grow flowers in most of the sunny areas of my yard because the bermuda takes over, and not just the runners. That stuff has roots that act like underground runners so if you pull it up from the top, it will soon come back anyway. However, it doesn’t like shade, so it doesn’t grow under my big oak tree, whereas St. Augustine does much better there. Cutting it longer than Bermuda grass lets it grow better and lessens the need to water it so much.
As someone with a heavily shaded yard and clay soil, with the additional problem of pets and a husband that dislikes yard work, I have also sought a solution to the problem of what to grow. I have covered some portions of the yard with plants and ground covers. In response to the person who commented about the oak tree and acidic soil, there are several acid-loving plants; azaleas and others and some fruits like blueberries (which do well in my shady lawn provided they get enough water when fruiting and a bit of sun). You can use ground covers like Variegated Pennywort and Golden Creeping Jenny-Moneywort. Liriope does well in shade but can become invasive. Or get dwarf Japanese mondo grass, always green, never needs mowing, does well in poor soil. Bugleweed is very nice too.
As to the comments about vinca..I have two varieties of periwinkle ground covers and they are very tough. They put up with foot traffic and also dog traffic and dog toilet. They have trailing vines but will actually establish new roots and independent plants. So you can mow over parts of it and it pops back up. It’s about the only thing that does well in the back of my yard.
Its all relative. Depends on the region of the country. Down here in FL, St. Augustine is considered the grass of choice, up north its a weed. All depends on what, overall, grows best in your area.
Nothing. Weathers nice, scenery too. Great place to stash your older brother if he runs off with a Nazi sympathizing trollop and you need him out of Europe until the wars over.