Thyme, Strawberry, and other herbs are my go-to for ground cover - they take up the space, spread, are hardy, and give benefits to the plants around them and my kitchen.
Creeping Jenny :) Vinca :( LOL Many (of course) will say "Creeping Jenny" provides nothing but ground cover. True BUT. It grows very low and does not crowd out other plants. It has a shallow root that pulls up super easy. It will grow right out over wood chip even if those chips are fresh. Although it is fast growing it is easy to maintain (so fun to control it's cascading shape). It has three seasons of color differential, spring lime green, summer deep green, fall brilliant gold. Easy to get ready in late winter early spring only requires a pair of scissors to clip it close to the ground. And the two big benefits in my opinion. 1) Fantastic to plop down in bare areas that you just aren't ready to do something permanent with and easy to change out when you are ready. 2) Real eye catcher that people are thrilled to get either for their own yard or potted up in some quirky little jar you found at the thrift store to keep as a house plant. To quote Steel Magnolias (analogy to a casserole) "Keeps well and easy to transport." :) I love Creeping Jenny!
Thank you Angela, i keep rewatching some videos of yours, they are so relaxing 😃. I planted mint in the ground 6 years ago, we have only a couple hours sun in our small garden. For the first time this spring i see the mint really spreading, i was afraid it was not gonna survive in our soil. In one spot it even got kicked out by melissa. I love them both, the smell, the bees visit them a lot.
Very useful points, thank you! Note that the growing habit of plants really depends on your location and the exact cultivars. I was surprised to hear Vinca minor mentioned as an aggressive groundcover. For me it grows slowly but steadily, is easy to pull up (like the strawberries in the video), is strongly ground-hugging (unlike Vinca major and more so than strawberries) and evergreen (unlike mint). So based on my personal experiences I would say it is an excellent choice. For shade-tolerant evergreen groundcovers, low campanula species are also nice, similar in height and habit to ladies mantle, and edible. Funnily enough, I can't get ladies mantle to grow in my garden. So I would say, try to see how plants do for you!
I love having creeping phlox and hardy geranium as ground cover here in zone 5b. I have 9 varieties of mint that I keep in ground and they are work to keep under control. But when the mint Was in pots didn’t grow well, so when I saw a video of yours on mint I decided to go ahead and plant in ground, so much better in ground. In winter the deer do help maintain it, not their preferred food but when they are hungry they nibble. Creeping thyme another great option. Red and white clover just happened naturally, so they get to stay, after in my ignorance trying to remove. So many benefits and edible for us too. The native wild strawberry great cover too, but here it will take over along with dewberry.
I've been struggling to figure out what to do for ground covers in my very dry climate. I think I'm settling on a low growing / spreading yarrow (like a sonoma coast cultivar). I don't ever expect to have a full canopy over my more open spaces (that level of density is fairly impractical, also can be a bit of a fire hazard here), so a lot of broad leafed plants aren't great options as they don't tolerate the full sun. Mint seems to work here usually with shade and some supplemental water, but it's a pain to keep in check with all of our irrigation lines. It's not too bad to deal with just by topping the plants and trimming the rhizomes...but cutting irrigation lines is super annoying :) So far, I think the easiest solution I've come up with has just been putting native wildflower seeds everywhere. Some are fairly low growing and don't need any supplemental water. Blue flax and mexican hat are standouts so far. Not quite a ground cover layer, but it does seem to fill a bit of that function.
I appreciate the time, thought, and energy that you put into your information and opinions. As someone who is striving for a permaculture-based, but still beautiful, garden you have been a wonderful and relatable resource. Cheers! 🌱 🪴🍀
I intentionally planted mint in one bed beside the driveway, knowing it will be a challenge as I'm adding perennials. But I'm good with that challenge.
This morning I suggested permaculture to someone wondering how to get away from chemically addicted soil. I recommended GL and MG in Australia - and YOU! Those two are great with their with their sprawling systems but your content feels so much more accessible and relatable. Thanks for sharing valuable content!
A plant I believe is a low growing Angelica.. has appeared in my orchard…I’m not sure if it’s a good one to keep or not.. but it’s really spreading throughout my orchard ( future food forest)
Yes! Great vid. My main issue with aggressive plants is if they're hard to pull up. I don't want to buy a ton of starters and I'm always on the lookout for shade and groundcover
I am really learning so much. My mother-in-law in Portland has a blank slate yard and I feel like anything is possible. It's just so hard to have all these plant species in mind as I try to make a plan. Maybe you could do videos that focus on one guild at a time and describe why you chose what you chose.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I’ve been learning here and there now from you videos for a couple of months. I am starting slowly creating a food forest and last year I did several fruit tree guilds. I think I’ve made a mistake in planting some things too close to my trees, what is the spacing of somethings? Like I have comfrey and lemon balm just under the canopy of my young peach trees.
Great points Angela! Thank you for the video. Here in Zone 5 we are just seeing our mint come in around the warmer edges. Our daughter (4) asks all the time if she can have some mint! I am going to move our strawberries this year to around some other areas to let them spread. We personally can never have enough! Tops for ground cover for us, though we are focusing on diversity as much as we can too.
Strawberries 🍓 are a great ground cover. Mint for me is a no go. I have been removing lemon balm for over a decade now…. So it’s not only just “mint” but other fragrant plants in that family. My friends food forest is getting swallowed whole by mint. It does do well! Excellent for bees. But I would say it does too well.
Always a good watch when needing a brain refresher, also you are so educational much love and hopefully i can get to the point of starting my own "proper garden" as i prefer to call them now, even though i know a lot of physical work will be hard on my body in the future.
Great video! I'm wondering how best to get a groundcover established in a heavily mulched area when planting a guild around a fruit tree. Do you thin the mulch for a period of time to encourage the groundcover to spread?
Great question! I pull back the mulch while it gets established. I have been known to mulch my white clover too heavily and kill it so I’m more careful now!
Most of my garden is shady. The whole garden is windy. I don't have room for large shrubs to shelter other plants, and if I did, it would shade the back yard more. I'm not sure what to do about that. In the one sunny area in the back, I'm considering putting creeping thyme in the gravel circle to crowd out weeds. I don't know if it would be drought tolerant enough to go without irrigation, but maybe I'll try hand watering it.
also be aware that you may need to change groundcovers... when you first put things in? there isnt shade. you put in a tree and its a *stick* for the first couple years.... so that first year or two you have minimal shade under that tree... but later on you can have a lot!
Thank you !! I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT CREEPING CHARLIE, IT GREW AROUND MY BLUEBERRY BUSHES, IT SEEMS TO BE AN EFFECTIVE LIVING MULCH GROUND COVER TO ME. WHAT DO YOU THINK ? DO YOU KNOW OF ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES ?
Are you growing the poultry fodder ground cover in your poultry runs, or are they grown in the fence lines to give access to the leaves, but not the roots?
Not in the run or they kill them. Along fence lines and also in areas where the kids or I pick them and throw them over the fence to the birds. The only herbaceous food crop I’ve found I can grow in the chicken run is comfrey.
