What Grass Seed to use? HELP!

Hi,

I am a new, but keen gardener. I have a new build home (about 5 years old) with a north West-facing garden. The garden has a clay soil which does get a bit "boggy" in the winter months.
My problem is that I want a thick hardwearing grass in the garden - but I want it to have the look of Canadian grass. The grass needs to be able to grow in shade as well as sun. I don�t want to turf - because I do not think that I need to. Has anyone got any suggestions?

 

It would be well worth some preparatory work before sowing seed, Elle (Welcome, btw! :D )

Chances are the bogginess is because of the usual builders' rubbish left behind. We had this problem too, although I didn't particularly want to lay grass on the soil. What I did was to dig over the lot, to loosen it up, and to remove any weeds, rubbish, large concrete blocks, etc. After that you need to rake it level again, and firm it well before sowing.

As for the type of grass seed, this site is what I use as it gives a very helpful set of info about the subject, and sells the stuff too!