You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
I am not sure this is the best forum to ask this question and I searched to see if this has been discussed and I did not find anything. Please forgive me if I'm wrong on either point.
I have slowly come to be less and less of a mulch fan. Sure it has great benefits - the aesthetic include that nice finished, professional look with no weeds. The nitty gritty benefits include weed suppression, temperature moderation, organic breakdown (assuming organic mulch) and moisture conservation, as most of you already know. However, you don't hear the mulch boosters talking about the negatives. They include expense and /or lots of work - I have large beds that are not yet 'crowded' enough to keep out lots of weeds. It usually has to be replenished every year or two. The basic hardwood mulch I have dumped in large quantities gets very compressed and needs fluffing. It can float away in heavy rains. Also, when using organic mulch, weed seeds land and easily take root.
I have therefore come to the conclusion that effective groundcovers are more appealing to me. I am in the middle of experimenting with a number of them and want to hear from all of you. First - what are your thoughts on groundcovers versus mulch. Next, and more importantly, which groundcovers have worked for you? Many plants that are described or marketed as groundcovers really are not - they do not grow quickly and tightly enough to choke out weeds. Some of the ones I have been trying include vinca (weeds grow through it but not too bad - works from full sun to full shade), creeping jenny (also from full sun to full shade but I have quite a few weeds growing though them in one area, though curiously, not in another), hardy geranium (good for partial shade - so far, so good - I believe the added height is helpful and there are added benefits such as blooms, fragrance and fall color), juniper, ranunculus 'Buttered Popcorn' (full sun to full shade - was high on this last year but large areas did not return after this past winter - it is very attractive though), and euphorbia robbiae ( full shade to partial - too sparse and slow growing).
Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you.
Victor
There are 43 replies. The replies of posts in this forum are viewable only by paid subscribers of Dave's Garden, and only subscribers can post new replies. We are a member supported website.
