Need landscaping advice

Lies, look into dormant seeding. I have the same issues in the yard, but I cannot count on a steady snowfall or low temps so cannot do this.

I plan to take the tiller to the yard this spring, I am going to "chafe" the top and then re-seed it with peat and top soil. Our problem was also water, tons of it last season. I am hoping for a dryer spring. I actually plan to rope off sections of the yard all season to give them time to establish a good root system.

 i had a similar problem at the corners of our porch - you will waste money and time trying to grow grass in a river bed basically.... for the longest time i had buckets there to catch the water. i didnt mind because i liked the "pond" habitat with tadpoles, lizards wild birds etc coming to drink and live(just dont forget to put a floating dock in there so they can escape if they accidentally fall in!)

But.... that got old. if it was normal rain the buckets would work just fine. but if it was a deluge every other day(common in this part of FL) then it was only transferring the wash area to another area, where the buckets spilled over...... i tossed out the buckets and just put flat rocks there. i found these while in tennessee last year. they're just castoffs from some construction crew when they cut into a mountain and they are about the size of a patio paver... i just placed them right where the water was pounding into the ground. the splatter does less damage than a waterfall. also in those areas i created flower beds to cut back on traffic... i dont know if you have that option though. i bought roses and garden soil and found some old concrete blocks and old rotten fence posts(the joys of living on an old homestead) and made a border out of that. the soil came from a giant log that had rotted into the ground in the woods. then i raked up pine straw and filled in the holes with old red bricks(again from the old homestead junk pile.. apparently there used to be a brick house out here!) the area where i put the roses is doing great. and the area where i put the flat rocks is also doing great (i actually planted a holly bush/tree in that area to hold down the soil until the grass could grow back.

so far so good!

I think our problem is a combination of water and traffic.  The grass was fine, even with the overflowing eaves, until we got up to three dogs and put in the fence so when it's warm, the door is open and they are basically free to go in/out as they please.  I'm thinking of neatly blocking off the area with an expen, leaving a few feet along the fence which I expect to get trampled anyway, and trying grass seed or sod.  A patio would be perfect but I'm not keen on the cost (would need to get the sand and all the pavers).

go with sod instead of seed at this point. you need something with weight. right now the seed will only wash away unless you throw straw on top of it. i reseeded my entire backyard last september. it was a wilderness until one day while walking back there in a very well traveled path i stepped in a yellow jacket's nest.... i got mad and declared war... my kids being more active and outdoorsy were going back there more and more often.... the last thing i wanted was bee stings and snake bites.

after raking, burning, chopping and mowing weeds... i had nothing but black dirt.. a huge mess when it rained and potential erosion problems because its on a hill.... i bought one bag of seed(rye mix) and its doing very well. but i had to strew hay all over the place until it could get established. even though i followed directions on the bag to plant the seed into the dirt.... it was still washing away and the chickens were wanting to eat it..... the straw looked a mess but it worked lol

You should probably fix the water problem first.  You could get gutter guards for fairly cheap or they're easy to make.  Once you prevent the gutters from backing up then all ya got to worry about is where the water goes next.  Myself, I went to a local quarry and picked up some 1-4 inch rock and dug a hole approx 2-4 feet wide (case specific), filled with this rock then covered with top soil...except where the water ran in.  This works really well.  Dig a trench off this hole about a foot down and fill with crushed stone and then cover with top soil. The more water you get the more crushed stone you use and the longer the trench.  (is this called a French Drain?)  If you can afford it go with sod....it's much easier to deal with when having dogs.  It's all about proper drainage.

 If you go with sod, you will want to water it frequently (if nature does not ablige) and you will not want the dogs on it for at least a year.  I planted sod next to my old house and let the dogs on it later that summer.  Pee burns galore!  Sod needs at least a year of tender care to survive and be robust the next year.  Just my experience mind.  I live in Central Indiana, btw.

 I'd ask to extend the patio, gets rid of the dirt problem. I'd love to have my dog run be something other than rocks/mud. would love to make in concrete or pavers someday - for clean dogs and easy poo cleanup.

Johnny&Tessy

You should probably fix the water problem first.  You could get gutter guards for fairly cheap or they're easy to make.  Once you prevent the gutters from backing up then all ya got to worry about is where the water goes next.  Myself, I went to a local quarry and picked up some 1-4 inch rock and dug a hole approx 2-4 feet wide (case specific), filled with this rock then covered with top soil...except where the water ran in.  This works really well.  Dig a trench off this hole about a foot down and fill with crushed stone and then cover with top soil. The more water you get the more crushed stone you use and the longer the trench.  (is this called a French Drain?)  If you can afford it go with sod....it's much easier to deal with when having dogs.  It's all about proper drainage.

yup thats a french drain. trying to get one installed myself, the whole front of my driveway turns into a giant puddle. I call it the moat. which is spanned by the bridge of death. lol

Drainage is definitely an issue but not one easily resolved.  We live on the "Kentwood clay" (Kentwood is the township or whatever, though we live only three houses in so I write my address as the city and the border weaves in and out).  The houses/lawns on either side of us are higher up.  Our yard is very long but not as wide.  It's basically an acre but only 5 feet beyond the width of the house itself, so our yard is sort of like the trench of the neighborhood.  I've only fenced maybe 1/4 of the yard, because the back and lower areas are like a marsh for most of the year.  There is grass, but if you walk on it you sink in.  It looks normal until you are on it, then it's muck.  I don't like the dogs running here because obviously they get filthy but also they kick up all the grass, sort of the problem we are having now with the wetter areas inside the fence.

The gutters were cleaned and that did help, but with our fall rain, no gutter system could accommodate that water.   The area I'm bringing up in this thread is along the porch, which is the lowest lying roof and gutter, so all the water is going that way.

I'm going to try this french drain thing alongside the porch.  There is mulch here currently but when the gutters overflow the dogs LOVE to dig along here.  Previously, I've just kept our lawn tools and my agility equipment resting against the port here to block them off, but I think I could remove the mulch and make a trench about 3' wide and put some rocks in it, that should help.  Rocks are expensive but where I work is all landscaped with rocks around every building, miles and miles of rocks so I could abscond with a few each time I go for a walk and have enough without making a dent.

DH brought it up to the landlords and they were indifferent, so we can basically do what we want as long as we pay for it.

 Just a suggestion, but in our area there is always people giving away rocks on CL. you just gotta go & shovel them up & haul them yourself :)

 I'm watching this thread! My lawn went from nice green grass to basically pure mud when I went from 2 to 3 dogs. I've worked very hard over the years to try to grow grass from see, but it doesn't work. I spread straw over it and so forth. Last summer the birds came in and raided the seed about 10 mins after I put it down! I've done pea stone and mulch as well. I'm totally at a loss.....

Lies, if you google french drain, you'll find lots of good instructions on how to build one.  I agree with the others who say unless you can fix the drainage issue, you won't have any luck keeping grass alive in a swampy area.  Good luck, and keep us posted on how it turns out!

Julie, I feel your pain.  We seeded FOUR times last fall, and this is what our yard looks like today:

And yes, the clay really is that red, and the dogs track it into the house no matter how much I wipe their feet when they come in. 

In two months we're biting the bullet and spending the $$ to lay down sod.  We have to wait til early May because the kind of sod we're getting doesn't get cut until mid-late April, when its in full growth stage.  I'm telling myself I CAN hang in there for two more months, lol.

Jewlieee

 I'm watching this thread! My lawn went from nice green grass to basically pure mud when I went from 2 to 3 dogs. I've worked very hard over the years to try to grow grass from see, but it doesn't work. I spread straw over it and so forth. Last summer the birds came in and raided the seed about 10 mins after I put it down! I've done pea stone and mulch as well. I'm totally at a loss.....

Well if anything, we can commiserate together!!!

I've prepped the indoors as well.  I bought a huge BROWN rug that's in front of the sliding door.  I have "several year's worth" of carpet cleaning solution (according to the Bissell engineer who gave it to me).  I put up a new "gate" in the den so the dogs are confined to this area (normally they are anyway, but they've been jumping the old gate or I've been lax about putting one up).  The carpets upstairs and on the starts are WHITE, so if the dogs come in and run up the stairs, pressing their claws into the carpet I get black mud stains on white carpet five times a day.

Jewlieee

 I'm watching this thread! My lawn went from nice green grass to basically pure mud when I went from 2 to 3 dogs. I've worked very hard over the years to try to grow grass from see, but it doesn't work. I spread straw over it and so forth. Last summer the birds came in and raided the seed about 10 mins after I put it down! I've done pea stone and mulch as well. I'm totally at a loss.....

As far as seeding and getting it to grow with dogs....you'll basically have to keep them off it for a few months.  I section off certain areas for them to run and play in while the other areas are growing.  Now htis year I have to do the area they had last summer and this summer they'll get a nice grassy area to romp in.

Liesje

I've prepped the indoors as well.  I bought a huge BROWN rug that's in front of the sliding door.  I have "several year's worth" of carpet cleaning solution (according to the Bissell engineer who gave it to me).  I put up a new "gate" in the den so the dogs are confined to this area (normally they are anyway, but they've been jumping the old gate or I've been lax about putting one up).  The carpets upstairs and on the starts are WHITE, so if the dogs come in and run up the stairs, pressing their claws into the carpet I get black mud stains on white carpet five times a day.