Area in back yard wont grow grass. Any ideas to make it nice?

in our back yardd, we laid down damp paper bags the shoveled 2 inch river rock on top of the paper. Did it 2 yrs ago and don't regret it one bit. The occasional weed pushes through but we just spray them with weed killer.

Rent a tiller and dig up about four to five inches of the soil. Replace it with topsoil. Sounds like someone used that area to work on cars and may have contaminated the soil. This is a pretty small space so it should be easy to remedy for $40-$50 unless you know someone who will let you go in their pasture or land and dig up enough dirt to refile your space. Maybe you have an area in your yard you can rob some soil from.

You may need to grade the area so that water won't puddle there. Not a big deal. If soil drainage is a problem due to what may be beneath the surface (ie. gravel), you may need to add some top soil and plant a few willow trees to drink up some of that water.

Instead of fighting the situation ,out line the area and make a rock garden and place assorted plantings based on your zone

Form a Pond and Rock Garden

Was there a pen for something there like dog pen. sounds like it might be compacted, dig up at least 8 inches add peat moss or compost anything to loosen soil, top soil.

Chamomile and creeping thyme make a wonderful ground cover that does not need to be mowed and loves to be bruised by being walked on. It smells great and grows better in poor soil. You can also brew tea from it. For the chamomile just break open a few chamomile tea bags and scatter the seed, They will grow. You probably have to guy the creeping thyme.

running a cultivator across any stretch of dirt will help all plants grow, including weeds. Fast growing plants will shut those out.

Thanks for all those great ideas..now I gotta figure out which one I like the most .😄

Is it above the septic tank? If so, you generally can't plant anything within the septic field because it won't grow. Additionally, if it's above a septic tank, you don't want to add rock or additional soil because the weight can be too much and damage the tank itself. You will need relatively easy access to the area, as well, in case the area needs to be dug up to service the tank.

Consider pavers in a fun geometric pattern or a floating deck area.