How to Plant Ground Covering

Have a bare area? Have a hill you really do not want to mow? Just plain tired of grass? Then groundcovers are for you!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Starts or seeds
• Spade
• Rake
• Tiller or hoe
• Patience and water!
• Compost (if desired)

1. OK, so you have an area that will not grow grass, is too shaded...maybe too soggy? There might be paving stones and you need something in between. Could it be a hill you hate to pull the mower up? There are many different types of ground cover and they all have many uses...

2. If you have a hill, for example, then three-toothed cinquefoil, creeping juniper or crown vetch would work well, especially if it is a bit rocky and well drained.
   • Crown vetch (Coronilla varia) The cover for sunny banks that are too dry for grass, forms an intertwined mass up to 30 cm thick, flowers all summer.
   • Three-toothed cinquefoil (Potentilla tridentata) A creeper for rocky sites and dry sunny slopes, 25 cm high, small white flowers early summer, leaves turn reddish in fall.
   • Creeping juniper (Juniperus horizontalis) Grows slowly, but excellent for covering rocky slopes, requires full sun, dry even rocky soil, good air circulation. Cultivars available for heights from 20 cm ('Wiltonii') to 60 cm.

3. Lets say the area is too shady and wet, perhaps even grass will not grow there, then there are several great choices, these are great ones!
   • Ajuga (Ajuga reptans) A fast-spreading ground cover, sun to light shade and moist soil, 10 cm high, spikes of deep blue flowers in late spring over shiny rosettes of leaves, multi-coloured leaf cultivars available. 'Braunherz' is especially resistant to insect attacks.
   • Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) Best in moist shady spots where grass won't grow, whorled green foliage, tiny white flowers in spring.
   • Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) Thick-growing upright leaves 10 cm high, suppresses almost all other plants if grown in moist soil and medium to deep shade, fragrant flowers in spring. The bright-orange berries in summer are sufficiently poisonous that children should be prevented from eating them.
   • Foam flower (Tiarella cordifolia) Grows 25 cm tall in medium to heavy shade and rich moist soil, white flower spikes in spring.

4. Now, for that area where you have stepping stones, plain old grass just doesn't do it, eh? Try Thyme and you will be very pleased with the results! Not only does it smell wonderful, but you will have fresh Thyme year round for cooking.
   
   • Thyme (Thymus montanus or T. serphyllum) A cover for full sun and dry sandy soil, especially useful between patio stones, leaves scented, has tiny flowers late spring, several good varieties.

5. A few others that need to be mentioned and have various uses would be:
   • Periwinkle (Vinca minor) Medium to dark shade, 15 cm high with shiny green leaves, many blue flowers in spring, withstands drought once established but young plants must be watered, some weeding required.
   • Goutweed (Ægopodium podagraria) Sun to medium shade, spreads very rapidly (even invasively) by underground roots, cream-coloured leaves, 15 cm high. Control by mowing along edge of patch three times a year.
   • Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis) Best in light to dark shade and well-drained soil, 15 cm high, some have variegated leaves, excellent to combine with bulb plantings to hide the ripening bulb leaves after flowering. Control by mowing.
   • Creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera) Forms dense clumps of spreading stems, many small blue, pink or white flowers in spring, best in light to medium shade such as under trees, moist soil. Phlox subulata, also called creeping phlox, forms a moss-like mat 15 cm thick with flowers in early spring, needs full sun, well-drained soil, and some weeding, the middle of large plantings tends to die off.

6. Now that you have decided where you want ground cover and what you are going to use in it, now you have to figure out how! I am going to take you through the various steps for different areas and some tricks that should make it fill out the quickest. The hard part is really waiting, not the doing as we all would love instant results...

7. 

   Step one: Decide how you want to procure the starts, you can start many from seed, buy larger plants and separate pieces (the many rooted sorts) or buy flats of small starts. I usually start things like thyme from seed as it is the cheapest way to go, but there is the waiting time! When I separate or plant from seed I need a good bag of soil as well as a lot of small pots. To decide how many you need, plan on using twice the recommended amount. If it says to give 6 inches in between the plants, figure it on 3-4" instead. Once you have the plants, progress to the next step!

8. 

   Now you will need to prepare the area, at least a little bit. If it is a hilly, sandy area and you have chosen to plant the varieties that handle those conditions right, then you really are just going to need to plant. If it is that area that is wet and shady, all you are going to need to do is clear it. The same will go for if you are planting in a walkway with stepping stones. If it is not a large area a hoe will do the trick, try to get it as even as possible, a rake helps with this. If the area is large, the a tiller would make life easier and make the project go a lot faster! It wouldn't hurt to work a bit of compost in, but it isn't really needed.

9. 

   Now that your area is ready and you have the starts you need, don't follow the directions completely. You want to plant them too close, so they fill the area faster! Start at the farthest away area and plant them evenly and outwards (like painting yourself into a corner, you don't want to plant yourself into a corner!). Water well, and remember to water regularly until they have started to grow. Now you have ground cover that is interesting and makes your life easier!

Tips & Warnings

• Don't rush the starts if you start from seed, you really want them to establish.
• They will fill out if you plant them further apart, it really depends ho fast you want them to fully cover.
• Junipers grow slow so if you need fast erosion control for a hill, you may want to plant them but put something in between until they have established fully.
• Epsom salts are an excellent and cheap fertilizer, one TBSP to every one gallon of water is a good mix. To start though, when you have just planted if you sprinkle them by hand liberally everywhere you have planted and water it in that can speed up the plants taking to the area sooner!
• Some of these covers are very drought resistant but at the start if you do not water them regularly, they WILL die.

[AbbyNormal]

on 4/28/2008 This is a great article. I have more bare spots than lawn. My soil is SAND and we are in drought! :(

[GreenGardenChic]

on 3/20/2008 I love Thyme planted between pavers, it's my favorite. Nice article and good pictures.

[rkayne]

on 6/20/2007 See more of my garden knowledge as well as others here, http://my.gardenguides.com/members/RKayne/blog Thanks!

[revisitingnixon]

on 6/19/2007 Congrats on having this article be picked as the winner for the "Top Written Requested How to Article!" Check out the forums and see which other winners we have this week. Check it out at:

http://www.ehow.com/community/forums/forum_1728_ehow-winners:-article-requests.aspx

-Rich