If you dog is female be ready for brown patches in your eventual lawn. Unless you pour a bucket of water onto any area she pees on every time she goes. I do not know the formula but it is to do with the composition of female dogs' urine.
I doubt if a single dog will do much damage to a lawn unless it digs holes in it.
If you are left with a deep layer of rubble dust it would be a good idea to remove some of it to leave a thin layer of 3/4 inches for drainage because any more than that and you will need to permanently water the grass during dry spells. Having a velvet, pristine, unblemished lawn is a full time job, needing daily attention so think carefully before investing a lot of money on turf, which is an instant answer, because you should not walk on newly laid turf, it will need several weeks before the roots are growing into the soil and will need watering everyday until established. Seeding a lawn in the autumn means it can almost look after itself during the winter, no walking on it, water or cutting. It takes about 5 years for a bowling or croquet lawn to be established, and then they are not perfect for another 4/5 years. That is with expert care.
I'm sorry you're feeling upset (and probably a bit overwhelmed) by it. I know you said you love grass, but don't forget it's not compulsory to have grass and it's hard work for poor results if your conditions aren't good for it. Shade + poor drainage + dog aren't really very promising. There are shade-tolerant lawn grass mixes available but they're not very hard-wearing. You could consider at least having a look at some other options like gravel or slate? You can have a lovely garden without any grass even in shady conditions.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
It will be pretty sunny now as we cut down all the trees . So it's looking very bare .. but it is north facing. .I'm really struggling with this decision!
Yes we e always had dogs and usually they walk outside of the back garden but this parson Russell is a female and she runs like a lunatic around all the borders. We're hoping to train her as she's still young.. half of the garden will be a circular slab of polished concrete. I was going to put rock down . Them artificial grass but neither are really what I want. For me feeling the grass is the best part of being in the garden. And I think the dogs love it too .so I guess we'll see if it does better with more sun and no trees . Probably will have another muddy mess next winter. I'm still in a quandry...thank you all you've been so kind
I have a dog a cat and a garden without any lawn. I made an executive decision not to have a lawn when I moved here and was faced with a piece of field as my garden. I have blue slate chippings down for some paths and weed matting for the rest which I haven't got around to covering yet. Not pretty but functional and a compromise. I have borders which are planted mainly with perennials as annuals are too much work for me, plus veg. patch. My garden is fairly large compared to many gardens so my pets have free range to go where they choose but usually keep to the paths. Except the cat likes to lay next to me when I am working which means I have to move her as I move along. My dog is not a garden animal, he was 6 years old when I acquired him and he had never lived with a garden and is not a sun worshipper so is no problem. He has a few favourite clumps of elephant grass which he likes to "water" regularly and they seem to survive. There is no reason why you shouldn't have a lawn but probably not the one in your minds eye. A tough hard wearing grass which will withstand the animals and stop you freaking out every time they go anywhere near it seems the solution. Unfortunately your main problems are you would like instant results with a minimum of effort and cost which is difficult to achieve unless you are prepared to spend a huge amount of money. (The final layer of soil which you lay turf on or seed should ideally be sieved or at the very least, be raked to a fine tilth)
One thing gardening does is teach us to be patient, a hard lesson for a lot of us.
It might help to make a list of the essential preparation jobs that need to be done, put them in order with a time line, grit your teeth and go for it. You obviously want a lawn but it might take longer than you were expecting, be harder work than you thought and will not be exactly what you wanted but I agree, to walk on grass with bare feet is lovely, as well as looking good. At least you will have tried to achieve your dream. If it doesn't work for you, you can always change it. The North facing aspect shouldn't be an issue by the way.
It will be pretty sunny now as we cut down all the trees . So it's looking very bare .. but it is north facing. .I'm really struggling with this decision!
Good luck and keep coming back if you have problems.
Posts
I doubt if a single dog will do much damage to a lawn unless it digs holes in it.
If you are left with a deep layer of rubble dust it would be a good idea to remove some of it to leave a thin layer of 3/4 inches for drainage because any more than that and you will need to permanently water the grass during dry spells.
Having a velvet, pristine, unblemished lawn is a full time job, needing daily attention so think carefully before investing a lot of money on turf, which is an instant answer, because you should not walk on newly laid turf, it will need several weeks before the roots are growing into the soil and will need watering everyday until established. Seeding a lawn in the autumn means it can almost look after itself during the winter, no walking on it, water or cutting.
It takes about 5 years for a bowling or croquet lawn to be established, and then they are not perfect for another 4/5 years. That is with expert care.
My garden is fairly large compared to many gardens so my pets have free range to go where they choose but usually keep to the paths. Except the cat likes to lay next to me when I am working which means I have to move her as I move along. My dog is not a garden animal, he was 6 years old when I acquired him and he had never lived with a garden and is not a sun worshipper so is no problem. He has a few favourite clumps of elephant grass which he likes to "water" regularly and they seem to survive.
There is no reason why you shouldn't have a lawn but probably not the one in your minds eye. A tough hard wearing grass which will withstand the animals and stop you freaking out every time they go anywhere near it seems the solution.
Unfortunately your main problems are you would like instant results with a minimum of effort and cost which is difficult to achieve unless you are prepared to spend a huge amount of money. (The final layer of soil which you lay turf on or seed should ideally be sieved or at the very least, be raked to a fine tilth)
One thing gardening does is teach us to be patient, a hard lesson for a lot of us.
It might help to make a list of the essential preparation jobs that need to be done, put them in order with a time line, grit your teeth and go for it. You obviously want a lawn but it might take longer than you were expecting, be harder work than you thought and will not be exactly what you wanted but I agree, to walk on grass with bare feet is lovely, as well as looking good. At least you will have tried to achieve your dream. If it doesn't work for you, you can always change it. The North facing aspect shouldn't be an issue by the way.
Good luck and keep coming back if you have problems.