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.
So glad i stumbled upon this ... and those Junes are stunning!! [can't wait til mine gets big.]
I have been in search of good ground covers and your article will help a lot.
I know i will get my hands on some creeping jenny this year, as i will be re-doing a large planter box that had it in there.
Hey, I am with you on using more groundcover and less mulch. I have G macror. also and love it, very tough and versatile. I have some others you mention too.
Maybe part of it is- I'd rather fuss with plants more and shovel brown stuff less, and spend the money on plants, and get free plants, rather than pay for mulch.
Enjoyed that article!
I started thinking as I read your article, that I have just now an almost pure culture of wild strawberry which I tend to think of as a weed but it is so beautiful now. Its about 6" high, very thick and tiny yellow blooms which will be replaced soon with tiny red strawberrys.It covers the ground outside my side yard beds which are shady. It does not encroach on the gravel path and it's not in my beds, (probably due to the leaf much that is there). It's growing around the outside of my square foot raised beds and along a cyclone fence in the garden area which is sunny on the back side of my house. I wonder how many people would eradicate it some way and go out and buy official groundcover. I have no lawn because I de-lawned about 5 years ago. I have beds, paths, a dry creek bed and some flag stones. Im so happy with it. I hate mowing the lawn worse than most things and I love to do paths, beds, flowers, trees shrubs, veggies. Im old now so I'll only do the things I really like to do. (as much as possible, teehee.)
Thanks for the article. I make my own mulch of chopped leaves and the benefits are so great, I probably wont be giving it up any time soon but you gave me some great ideas for low growing plants. I mulch heavily just before our rare but hard freezes hit and this benefit alone is worth the effort for me. Also I have some of the best soil around due in part to decaying mulch. I use very little fertilizer, have lots of earthworms.
If you live in a new home where the topsoil was not saved, the quickest way to rebuild the topsoil is to cover everything with thick layer of leaves and till it in. If you were to do this two years in a row, the topsoil will be 90% restored. Then if you add a little each year, you will always have good soil that is constantly improving. Hard to beat natural mulch. Mother Nature told me so. chuckle.
Just a note regarding Lysimachia nummemularia. Although it is noted in the article to check for invasiveness, this plant is now banned for sale and use in Nassau & Suffolk counties here in LI, NY. A committee review committee headed by BBG & Nature Conservancy reviewed and are continuing to, plants for invasive potential. This list can be found at http://ccesuffolk.org/assets/galleries/Agriculture/Commercia...
I'm with you, steadycam!
I used to use cedar mulch mainly because I loved the smell. Then I started using a mulch in spring and fall of compost and shredded leaves. The earthworms love it, the clay is much less clay-like, and my groundcovers have spread better and look great.
Only reason I still have any lawn at all is so that my caveman hubby wants to watch for sabor toothed tigers that might be approaching across the savannah while he's grilling hunks of dead cow.
