Ground Covers

Memorize this old adage and you're covered!

Once the ground is covered with your chosen plants, they will compete with the weeds and grasses, making your job easier. Then you can sit back and enjoy your almost maintenance free ground covers.

Ground covers play a major role in landscape developments. However, protecting these ground covers against weeds and grasses can be frustrating, especially during the early days following planting.

Remember the adage…

The saying "the first year ground covers sleep; the second year they creep, and the third year they leap" is an easy way for you to remember the growth rate of ground covers. The first two years, you must be patient yet persistent in keeping your bed free of weeds. Once the weeds take over, there's not much chance of saving the ground cover.

To control weeds…

The best way to control weeds is to pull them by hand regularly. You can kill the weeds with herbicides however, you're as likely to kill the ground cover as you are the weeds. You can make the weeding job easier by keeping a thick layer of mulch around the ground cover. Water the bed well before you weed it and you'll find it much easier to dig up the weeds.

Plant for coverage…

To make sure you get enough coverage, your ground cover plants need to be set out just right. For example, the grass-like ground cover plants, like border grasses, need to be set about eight inches apart to provide coverage in two years.

When there is enough moisture— about an inch each week—from either rainfall or irrigation, ground covers will thrive on regular fertilization. Don't fertilize after October.

Once the ground is covered with your chosen plants, they will compete with the weeds and grasses, making your job easier. Then you can sit back and enjoy your almost maintenance free ground covers.

For more information on ground covers, contact your local County Extension Office.