Clubbing baby seals? Our version of that is tilling the area to become a lawn. DON'T! So basically you need a lawn care mental make over. I'll get to that for you. It is pretty easy but it is equally easy to really do it wrong. I would suggest a grass called Shadow Turf. It is a variety of zoysia that really does grow in the shade. I'll post a picture after saying a few words about it. Shadow Turf was developed in West Texas at Texas Tech University along with Frontier Hybrids, a corn hybriding lab, in Abernathy, Texas. The owner had an interest in grasses and got two really good ones on the market before he passed away. The other one is Tech Turf, a buffalo grass hybrid. Tech Turf requires FULL sun while Shadow Turf only tolerates full sun. Shadow Turf really thrives in the shade. In the photo below, the Shadow Turf is under an English walnut tree. I had to duck to walk under the tree, so the canopy is probably down to 4-5 feet. You can see the density of the shade from the sunlight coming through the tree. The house faces west and has a huge tree across the street. Sunlight on the grass is limited to just a couple hours from noon to 3pm. That lawn was plugged on 12-inch centers about 18 months before I took the picture. The location is Abernathy, TX (obviously not a coincidence - Abernathy is a one-horse town). The reason I took that pic was to show where the grass had not quite fully filled in after 18 months. That spot is the least sunny part of the yard and probably receives no direct sunlight at all. Still the 1-inch grass plugs had spread to six inches or so in diameter. Clearly the rest of the lawn had filled in. Shadow Turf is a very dense, sod forming turf that might work for you in your application. Another variety of shade tolerant zoysia is called UC Verde. It was developed in California. It has a good reputation for the short time it has been out. I would check prices for both. Shadow Turf is not cheap. I paid about $85 for a flat of plugs. It spreads quickly, though, once it pops. I planted in May and by mid July I thought it was dead. SUDDENLY it was everywhere. It had been sending rhizomes around underground, and they all popped at once. Shadow Turf is moderately compatible with bermuda. Both can be mowed very low. Shadow Turf can also grow taller but when you do that, it is like bermuda in that when you mow the blades off the stems, it looks stemmy and brown. Getting the blades back on the ST takes a little time. It works much better mowed low and/or mowed often. Here are the basics of lawn care (lawn care mental make over). If you follow these guidelines you'll be okay even if all you have is weeds. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above.

Thanks guys. Dennis was actually grilling before his surgery day, Katkin. But it gave us so much hope and pleasure to have the The grandkids here, cheering us up all the time. Dennis will be back at his grill soon!!! Lisa I throw whatever fert I have on hand at the bananas. I really like the organic mix I get to blend in with soil or even water to feed everything. (I'll tell you what it is, after I look at the sack-it is wonderful) By the way, I was thinking of you today. Did that blackberry I rooted for you ever take off? If not I have discovered another shoot starting if you want it. Tonight wass not so pleasant for Dennis. He has been having sharp pains in his side today and after a 1/2 hour of attempting to lay down in bed, he finally went back to the recliner. He is only parttially laid back and sound asleep with his head resting on his hand. Surely his neck is going to be sore tomorrow. But we go back to the Doc in the morning. So I am going to curl up next to him tonight on the sofa. You all know how much I love my him, he's my world. It pains me to see him hurting. We will get through this! Love you guys!

It sounds like you're saying that there is continuous slope downward from the door. If that's the case, as long as you fix the puddling depression, the walk will drain. I'm saying not to create too much slope of the soil alongside and aiming toward the walk, as it will slowly but continuously dump soil onto the walk, creating the never-ending clean-up chore. The retaining wall solution I've shown above, being more or less a level, elevated area of soil, is probably the best solution because it doesn't aim any washing soil toward the walk. Water that doesn't permeate the ground escapes toward the left, in sync with the overall flow of drainage. The downside is that it requires a fair amount of wall material. (BTW, porches and decks are MORE OR LESS level, but they actually have a minute slope in order to drain. The elevated area captured by the retaining wall would be similar. Excess water must have a way out. A solution that uses a little less material is one similar to that shown in the picture below. Instead of the wall footprint having a final "leg" that returns toward the building, it would end with the the "leg" parallel to the longest walk and would slope downward so as to terminate flush with the grade. Overall, this does not motivate water to travel quite as far leftward, keeping it longer in the lawn such that it is "cleaned" before arriving at the longest walk. But it would work, probably adequately for the situation. I know all that may be confusing and I hope the drawing helps clarify it. Could not add pic. Houzz must be messing with the system. Will do it later.

Is the deck above ground? We had a large deck coming off the back of our house. It was flush with the large sliders so you just walked out. We lived in Westchester County, NY. We dealt with rain and snow. Rain just ran through the floor boards of the deck. We had no overhang from the roof. We did have gutters but in heavy rains, they didn't stop the deck from getting rained and snowed on.. In winter, during snow storms, we would leave it alone as the snow would gradually melt dripping through the floor boards. There were times my husband would go out and shovel the snow away from the doors. I wouldn't worry about it. Didn't cause us any problems. Jane