Lawn alternatives for shaded area

[titchy]

Help! Very little garden knowledge, but really do not like mowing the lawn....

We have a very shaded area (shaded by two bloody big trees, hedges, shed etc), poor sandy soil which we've recently cleared of brambles and goodness knows what else.

I've looked at moss, but £££ (have about 15 sq m to do), clover (but too shady I think) and chamomile (again too shady).

Thoughts?

If it’s damp enough for moss, moss will come.

if your soil is sandy, you may be too dry for moss.

Are you wanting something you can walk on like the rest-of the lawn or just something to cover the ground? My first thought would be hardy cyclamen, start with a few plants and let them self seed. Or you could look at ivy or Vinca. But these are ground cover options not walking on options.

Yes,it would be too shady for clover.

Not damp, so moss maybe wouldn't work even if I had spare £££.

Yes would like some foot traffic over it - would mind-your-own-business be a really silly idea? It is quite a self-contained patch....

I’m not sure how tough MYOB is to foot traffic. It wouldn’t cost much to find ou x if it likes the area it’ll spread like wildfire, you won’t have to buy much

Composted bark would fit the bill I think. it would improve the soil structure, keep moisture in, can be walked over, and you can pop in a few ferns or cyclamen. You could also try an acer in a pot. They quite like shade.

I don't think you will ever be able to make it look like a flat green carpet that is nice to walk on. Instead, I would do lots of bark chippings / mulch, and in the mulch plant evergreen ferns and vinca (aka periwinkle) and lots of bulbs for the spring (daffodils etc).

Hmmm bark not a bad idea actually, will ponder that one!

I saw this recently about clover lawns - not sure if it's completely accurate but we have a lot of clover in our lawn:

www.treehugger.com/reasons-plant-clover-lawn-4858641