We just bought a house in southern New Jersey last winter. The previous owners weren't very lawn & garden savvy, and the backyard was completely overgrown with knee-high english and poison ivy. This summer, we set out to clera the entire backyard, removing 30 cubic yards of english ivy and having a number of trees/shrubs ripped out. We then laid down 30 cubic yards of topsoil, planted grass seed and covered it with straw hay. The backyard is on a slope, and the very back is still incredibly shady even though we've removed some tree (the neighbors have a preposterously thick tree canopy). In this particular section, the lawn becomes a mud pit whenever it rains, and the grass seed doesn't appear to be germinating.

Thinking we might prefer to establish a moss garden back there, but I have no idea how to go about getting it established. The new topsoil likely made the soil less acidic, so I'd imagine I'll have to lay down some sulfate to get it going. Also, it's now early-November - too late to get moss going?

Last thing...is it really as easy as finding moss, blending it with buttermilk or beer and painting it in 3inch patches every 12 inches in the area where you want it to grow?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!