the grass is not doing well at all....

==>> it is my opinion that grass is the most aggressive .. invasive weed in the world.. growing in cracks in the 120 degree asphalt ...

and if it cant grow there.. you will be very hard pressed to grow much of anything else ...

and whatever you decide to use.. with the supreme competition.. nothing will grow fast ... it will be a struggle to get them established ... and growing.. let alone thriving

i would like a pic of the spot.. maybe we can intuit some other ideas.. like a rock collection ... they thrive with little or no care.. lol ..

i think you are sitting in the wrong box ... lets look for a new one ...

ken

Thanks for your help Ken, here you can see photos of my "lawn"

Here is a link that might be useful: My lawn problem

Try "Biokovo" geranium. I've posted on it several times - you can search the board. No, this stuff will grow where grass can't/won't thrive (e.g. dry shade), once established, of course.

That soil looks really, really dry. How often and how much are you watering? If it's not enough water for lawn, I'd be hard pressed to think of a ground cover that could survive there.

I was thinking the same thing as carrieb - really dry soil. My first thought was sedum, but then I realized it's probably too shady there for that.

I wonder if good old vinca would work there...?

I LOVE my geranium biokovo, but mine is not in as much shade or dryness as you have. (hmm, actually, it probably IS in as much shade, but definitely in moister soil.) But I would trust mxk's opinion on it!

Good luck and let us know what you decide and how it works for you!

Dee

I water every other day for 45mins early in the morning, I have thought about watering every day since I'm lucky to have irrigation water from the river. But I thought it would be too much. I read it is best to water less often and soak the ground.
I think part of the problem is the tree sucks up all the water there is in that area... I am guessing the roots stretch to the other side of the sidewalk (the sidewalk is warped right there).
That area appears to have hard clay and very little sod (I have lots of sod and big fat worms just a few feet away).

I wonder if instead of watering so much you could work on improving the soil. Perhaps put a 1/4 inch layer of compost, try planting your groundcover, and then add compost every year or a layer of finely shredded leaves under the groundcover. Its a shame, IMO, to waste all that water on an area like that (i.e. without a garden, etc.)

Dee

I was just re-reading your original post and I see that you said your budget is limited, so I want to amend my suggestion regarding amending, lol. If you are really limited, I think I would actually spend the budget on amending the soil, even if that is all you do this year. I would put down a layer of compost now. In the fall, shred your leaves really finely and thinly spread them also. You may even find that your grass does well enough that you won't need to add a groundcover if you don't want to. I would do this on the spot between the curb and sidewalk as well.

If you still want a groundcover, whatever you decide on, try asking on freecycle or craigslist, or find a plant swap or even a garden club sale (their prices may be lower than a nursery). Depending on what you choose, you can probably get it for free. People are often ripping out extra groundcover. For instance, if vinca would work, that's one of those plants that you should never pay for anyway, lol - that and daylilies, ajuga, pachysandra - you can always get them for free!

I wish there were more suggestions here for your situation. Hopefully someone else will recommend something that will work in this spot for you.

Dee

Having a limited budget means this won't be a quick fix, but if you are willing to work on an area each year and also spend time looking at inexpensive sources of plants and materials, you can have a beautiful area there. I'd spend this season gathering materials and making plans, so that early next season you can start work. First I would find an area to start a compost pile. Add any grass clippings that you don't leave on the lawn, add all the leaves in the fall and add any small diameter sticks, etc. that fall from the trees. If you pile your leaves on the lawn and run over them several times with the lawn mower this will chop them up and after piling them in your compost area by spring you should have good compost that can be used even if it isn't totally finished. You can even do this with neighbors' leaves to help the budget by increasing the amount of compost you make. Alternatively, you might find that your town has composting that you can have relatively inexpensive access to. Around me, when the power company trims back trees along power lines, when I have asked, they have been happy to dump the chippings at my house which I use to mulch around shrubs and trees. Sometimes there are folks with horses that are looking to get rid of a manure pile. I don't know if you could use this in your area (city areas aren't often happy about manure), but in my rural area we have 2 neighbors who have been thrilled to have someone who wants horse manure which we compost to help kill the weed seeds. So there are free or inexpensive sources of mulch and compost.

For under the trees, next season I would consider just putting down several layers of newspaper to kill the grass and then spread your homemade compost (or tree trimming chips if you've been able to get some of those.) I'd plan to do one tree each year unless you have sufficient to do both at once. For the area between the sidewalk and the curb, google "h*ll strip" or "inferno strip" after checking with the city that you are allowed to plant what you want there. I've seen some beautiful plantings alternating with stepping stones, gravel patches or cobbles (see Craigslist free section for offerings of used bricks, flagstone, pavers, or excess gravel) for when folks need to get out of parked cars. You could plant a similar dry garden about the same width on the house and tree side of the sidewalk where there is more sun.

Looking at the strip between the street and the sidewalk, I'd start by removing the top layer of soil with its weeds and grass and adding that to the compost pile. That will give you some room/depth to add some organic matter (compost) which will help even out the moisture levels. I'd also plan to add compost as a mulch when you plant.

I'm not sure where you are in Colorado, but I did a search for "Denver h*ll strip" and got a bunch of articles, etc. that will give you plant ideas and search synonyms (such as inferno strip or parking strip). Whatever you plant will need watering the first year, but after that should pretty much take care of itself as long as you use xeric/drought tolerant plants such as low sedums, thyme, stachys (lambs ear), penstemmons, bearded iris, lavender, Salvias, etc. As Dee said, good inexpensive plant sources include plant swaps (around here if you are a new gardener no one expects you to bring plants, just take extras), garden club plant sales (probably too late in the season for those this year, but you can do this next year), plants on nursery sales racks (often if this season's bloom is past, perennials will go on sale even though the plants are healthy), Craigslist and Freecycle, or winter sowing from seed (see winter sowing forum) are all ways to get inexpensive or free plants. If you have friends that are gardeners, ask them to keep you in mind if they are dividing plants or clearing out beds that have plants that like dry growing conditions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Denver h*ll strip

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions.

When we first moved into this, our first, home, we purchased a mulching mower. All the grass clippings stay in the lawn, and all the fall leaves stay in the lawn. Last fall was my first dealing with leaves and such like, I ran the mower over the ankle deep leaves over and over again until they were practically invisible. My neighbors raked and put their piles out on the curb for the big city vacuums to come and clean them up so if I hadn't had so many already I might have asked them to take some of theirs too... I have 2 sycamores and 2 Ash at the front and 2 locusts at the back, so plenty of leaves in the fall.

I did more research and found a city composting facility nearby where I can get mulch and compost at what I think are decent prices, and I noticed on Craig's list some free manure and wet straw that is not good for animal consumption anymore and I had wondered about starting a compost pile in a hidden shaded corner of the back yard that gets some water from the sprinklers.

So I'll start with composting and amending the soil, and next year I'll see what freecycle and craigslist have to offer in terms of plants and cuttings.
I'll also do a search for a garden club in the area.

thanks again!

Sounds like a plan! A good one too!

Composting is fun, and, IMO, addicting, lol. After you shred your leaves for the lawn, you can take your neighbors' for your pile. Don't forget to go pumpkin-collecting after Halloween too!

Remember to let us know how it turns out. Before and after photos are always fun.

Dee

Besides manure I've used more used coffee grounds than anything else to improve soil in sun or shade here. Try to call ahead to St*rbucks (not all are saving them now) and any smaller cafe restaurant that you frequent. Worms love them & it holds moisture, plus smells like coffee. Go figure!

I am in a quite different climate, of course, but have had some very hot dry summer recently (winters, however, tend to be rather wet) and the groundcovers under my maple are still doing well: bishop weed mostly and some variegated vinca. Both can be aggressive, but I find them, especially the bishop weed pretty easy to control--I don't let it go to seed and pull sprouts from where I don't want them. The hosta is long established and is also doing surprisingly well in that area. Also a big clump of epimedium, which is probably my favorite. Golden creeping jenny starts to look ratty by now I've found, something likes to nibble on it I think.