I don’t have much of a green thumb, nor much desire. I’ve typically managed to keep my lawn passable, but not great.
The new house has about 6,000 square foot of back yard in an urban area. The trees are necessary for privacy, but as a result there is not much light back there. As the sun moves across the yard, most areas get just a couple of hours per day of direct light.
I had got something started back there, but the dogs (both <1 year old) love to run and play, and are really tearing up what grass I had.
I’m looking for a mowable ground cover that will eliminate the current mudhole effect. I’d really like to do clover, but I’m reading it needs significant sun.
This is about practicality, not beauty. I want to be able to grow in the shade, and I want it to be tough.
You can try mint plants. They’ll die back in winter, but return with a vengeance. You can mow (set the blades pretty high, though) for an incredibly fragrant experience.
There’s some decent suggestions here:
If the ground is constantly wet, you may have a problem more from lack of drainage, than lack of sun. Maybe consider clumps of something taller and more resistant to root rot in the lowest, muddiest spots: hosta, which are pretty and well behaved, or maybe horsetail reeds, which look cool in a primitive dinosaur-era way and spread over the years.
Good luck - you have a real challenge. You’re looking for a full-shade ground cover durable enough to survive dogs paws and urine and poop and wet conditions.
I had a similar situation with our backyard, except our yard was about half the size: we had no trees, but our neighbours on all three sides were heavily treed. We also had about 2 hours of sun a day, but that’s still considered full shade. There are lots of options for ground cover that will grow in shade, but none that I could ever find that will survive the dogs, or in our case dog and kids playing.
We tried 100% shade grass mix, but it’s very delicate and couldn’t take being trod upon. We even tried “weeds” like Creeping Charlie and crabgrass to no avail (durable, but needed more sun). We gave up and ended up planting shade plants like hostas & ferns in perimeter beds and then did interlock brick patios. That said, it’s still a challenge, turns out hostas and ferns don’t like getting pissed on. Our dog always pissed on one until it died, then move on to the next one and so on.
Our neighbours tried mulch -** do not do this **- they realized what a massive mistake that was after the first rain and their dogs tracked all the mulch mud residue into the house. They spent the next 10 months washing their dog’s feet at the back door until they could get it all trucked out. They then did the permitter beds, but added pea gravel over crushed stone as a patio because it was cheaper than interlock.
Our situation was about 10 years ago, so maybe some grower has crossbred some new variety that works now although a quick google for those parameters showed nothing. My suggestion for anything you try is to do some test plantings first and make sure it works before going all-in on the entire yard.
My other suggestion would be, since you have a big yard, consider adding a fenced dog run to one side for daily use to keep the damage contained. That would solve your problem and give you lots of options to address the rest of the yard.
Try the Dutch white clover seed. It can do well in mostly-shade conditions as well as wetter areas. A couple hours of direct sun may be enough for it to geminate and thrive.