Is there any way we can set grid-template-area to blank?

Question

I am trying CSS GRID

  .item1 { grid-area: header; }
      .item2 { grid-area: menu; }
      .item3 { grid-area: dashboard; }
      .item4 { grid-area: footer; }


      .grid-container {
        display: grid;
        grid-template-areas:
        'header header header header header header'
        'menu menu dashboard dashboard dashboard dashboard'
        'footer footer footer footer footer footer';
        grid-gap: 10px;
        background-color: black;
        padding: 10px;
      }

Is there any way in which we can set some grid-template-areas to blank?