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Ground cover for lawn with dog? #829932

Asked May 14, 2023, 11:31 AM EDT

Hi there! In Fall 2021 we planted a new lawn in our Minneapolis home with the UMN Bee Lawn mix. It was mostly filled in, but then in Spring 2022 we got a dog who loves to play in the yard. By the end of the year, the lawn was in pretty bad shape. Right now it's about half-dirt, and I just put down a new round of grass and clover seed, with the expectation that even protecting them until they've grown, they won't make it through the year. All we really want is "not dirt" - something green-ish that can stand up to a lot of foot traffic from our dog. I've noticed the creeping thyme and the clover in the bee lawn had done better than the grass. Do you have any suggestions on other ground covers we could try? Or should we just give up and switch to something like mulch? I should also mention that the lawn gets full sun pretty much all day. Thanks so much!

Hennepin County Minnesota

Expert Response

Thanks for the question Stryker.

Well, your lawn looks a lot like my lawn. The UMN bee lawn mix is a good mix but a dog can mess up pretty much any lawn. The urine and feces plus the foot traffic and digging make it difficult to have a nice lawn. 

You could try to cordon a different part of it off each year to give the new seed a good chance of growth. Or try to attract your dog to stay in one area of the yard. This is not always successful - depending on the dog. Or make paths as dogs will always take the path of least resistance. 

You could also which to a low-mow grass seed. Grass is a pretty durable ground cover. 

I don’t really recommend wood mulch as it gets pretty messy and just breaks down to more mud. 

Good luck! If you can’t get it started this spring, fall is a great time to lay gras seed.

Deb Reierson Replied May 14, 2023, 1:32 PM EDT

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