TEN Ground Covers for Weed Control +2019 May Urban Garden/Edible Landscape Tour Albopepper Walk-thru
Vložit
- čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
- Select the best ground covers for blocking out weeds and reducing the need for wood mulch. What plants work well for shade vs sun? What about drought vs wet conditions? Which plants can handle foot traffic? Are there any edible ground covers? Watch to find out!
When it comes to keeping weeds at bay, sheet mulching with cardboard and wood mulch is a great way to reclaim an overgrown, weedy bed. But it's only a quick fix and temporary measure. Weed seeds will still blow in and before you know it, new weeds are starting to sprout.
That's why competition is so crucial. Don't leave areas bare and vacant. Plant them in with layers of bushes, shrubs and ground covers. Creeping perennials are the lowest on the ladder, literally hugging the ground and crowding out many opportunistic weed seeds.
But selecting a ground cover is not a one size fits all decision. On my property I've experimented with over a dozen different kinds. Some have failed to hold up. Others have made the cut. I'm going to show you the ten ground covers that I'm currently growing.
Pay attention to where they appear in relation to my property line, buildings, walkways and other plants. Hopefully these options will give you some ideas for designing your own lush plantings!
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
TEN Ground Covers on My Lot
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
0:00 - Overview of Site
4:25 - Gravel Walkway
5:42 - 01 ► Creeping Thyme
6:25 - 02 ► Elfin Thyme
6:47 - 03 ► Irish Moss
7:26 - 04 ► Strawberries
8:14 - 05 ► Sedum Stonecrop
8:57 - 06 ► Sweet Woodruff
9:40 - 07 ► Lingonberries
9:55 - 08 ► Kinnikinnick, Bearberry
10:20 - 09 ► Arctic Raspberries, Nagoonberry
10:40 - 10 ► Leptinella, Brass Buttons
11:43 - Additional Tips
Read More at Albopepper.com:
► link.albopepper.com/grnd-cvr
My Favorite Resource on Ground Covers (non-endorsed):
★★★ stepables.com ★★★
#GroundCovers #NaturalGardening #LowMaintenance #CreepingPerennials #WeedControl #Permaculture #Albopepper
•••••••••••••••••••••
SUPPORT:
•••••••••••••••••••••
B O O K ➝ amzn.to/447HJpt
W E B ➝ albopepper.com
F B ➝ / albopepper
I G ➝ / albopepper
T E E S ➝ shop.spreadshirt.com/albopepper/
••••••••••••••••••••• - Jak na to + styl
Check my website for even more details!
► albopepper.com/long-term-weed-control-with-ground-cover-plants.php
One great thing about sweet woodruff is it does GREAT in a semi-forested yard. So if you live in a wooded yard with tons of shade and lateral root structures AND tons of deer, sweet woodruff is one of the few plants I know of that thrive in that environment and deer don't like it very much. ALSO, in May and June, it erupts with tons of beautiful small white flowers, and it only gets about a foot high so it won't becoming annoyingly tall like some ground cover. It even seems to do well with acidic clay soil with rocks/roots/erosion issues. And has a really delicate graceful look on a landscape despite being super hearty. Great stuff!
You are so calming.I love how you don't scream at me when you start. I love to watch you and your yard. It's beautiful.
I was excited to see lingonberry. I am from north-western part of Russia and in autumn we usually go to forests to pick up berries, including lingonberry. People usually make jam out of it, or just freeze it and make pies or drinks in colder weather, as it is rich in vitamin C, E and help against cold and flu. It has many other great benefits for your health too. The leafs can be also used for a tea. I struggle to find lingonberries here in the USA, that's why I was excited that someone actually grows it :)
Thanks - the video actually provided me with options for the rear of my property which backs up to an alley way and has a tiny border outside of my fence. My husband hates having to go back there and cut down all the weeds and if he forgets, we end up getting fined by the city. So much appreciated!
Sweet woodruff does nicely in both sun and shade in our very dry, very cold-winter-hot-summer area. We have several beds where it fills in for other plants. The foliage and the cute little white flowers are very attractive. But I am not sure it is a very good deer deterrent....the deer here just walk right through it, take naps on top of it....Now, the thymes, the deer aren’t much interested in! But as you mentioned, they sort of get lanky and die out in the middle. I try to train the new growth towards the center...it doesn’t totally fill it in, but it helps. Thanks for a nice, clear explanation of your choices!
Great variety in limited space. Well done. Thanks for sharing your space & knowledge with us.
Bonus on Sweet Woodruff. I planted it on the edge of my lawn and it started to creep on to the lawn. For me, a lazy mower, it’s green, controlled height, smells wonderful when mowed. If I had an entire lawn of sweet woodruff, I’d be a happy gardener.
Love the sweet woodruff (except needing to be moist) and the sedum stonecrop is my favorite. So glad you're doing videos again....love your channel!!!!
Awesome footage. It's great to see with my eyes exactly what you're talking about as you do it. Thank you.
This is just lovely. What a work of art. I admire your project very much.
Just beautiful! Love all your groundcovers and will check out the "Stepables" looks like a great place to start. Thanks R
Just in time for us. We are re-landscaping our front yard. We find your videos very informative. Thank you.
Great to see you back. Please post more vids!!! Love your work ❤️❤️😊
Your garden is really nice! I love your use of ornamentals with edibles. I was also SO EXCITED to see that you have that particular variety of sedum. I’m a landscape designer and that green sedum, I call it ‘moss sedum’ (which probably isn’t actually its name), is a fantastic ground cover. I’ve grown many varieties of sedum but none have ever came even close to the vigor and thick plush mats of foliage that moss sedum creates. It’s also so ridiculously easy to propagate. I just pull handfuls out of one patch and throw them on top of where I want them to grow, keep it watered and viola, it grows and fills every void you want it to. I’ve seen it growing straight out of cinderblocks and on top of concrete. It will grab onto the tiniest cracks and fill them completely. And to top it all off, if you don’t want it somewhere, you can easily remove it with no digging or any effort at all. I looove that sedum. That is my number 1 ground cover!! That, paired with ole creepy Jenny can create a really bold and bright design.
What a wonderful garden and use of space.
I really like your delivery. Very informative. Cool stash too
Thank you! Very informative. I have a steep bank off the front yard that stays weedy and ugly all summer (in W. TN) so I need a nice looking ground cover to reduce erosion, and look nice, instead of being an eye sore.
Thank you. I have been looking all over for this information and you make it easy to search through your video and find the exact info on a rewatch.
First, thanx for your level-headed approach to your specialty. I feel like I'm listening to a regular person talk plainly about a common topic instead of some over-the-top clown or psuedo-intellectual. Second, I saw your Landscape Fabrics Pros & Cons video and it left me wondering if I should use cardboard when using rocks or pebbles. Lo and behold, I found this video where you answered my question. But you know what's really funny? I've been working on my front and back yards moving rocks from the front and placing them inside a concrete barrier that runs the length of my back fence. For the first half of this project, I used HD weed block fabric but I just was uncertain if it would do what I wanted, meaning no weeds. I bought this house I Oct 2020 and by Jan (I'm in Sacramento CA) weeds had broken through and were taking over my front yard. I didn't want that to happen in the back. Well I switched to 6mil plastic hoping it would not cause a problem while giving me the weed protection I was looking for. Now I know I made the right choice so I can proceed with redoing my front yard knowing it will turn out the way I hope. Preciate the info.
Thank you for the information on the types of ground covers you’ve dealt with. I like the sedum stonecrop. I have some now and it has kept the weeds and grass growing at bay.
Awesome! Thanks for watching Mare. :)
I love how neat and organized it all looks! I’m in southwest Pennsylvania! Thank you for this video!
Love the look of the gravel backyard
This is a great video and I appreciate the natural gardening. This is the first video I have watched of yours and will check out more.
Great video, lots of information, I changed my front lawn into a garden, tightly planted and works well to combat weeds and dogs.
Thanks for sharing 👍❤️😊
Soubds great. What plants did you use ??
We put creeping thyme in between our flagstone walkways but a good thing for brick walkways / patios to keep weeds at bay is polymeric sand.
I now *plant densely* . *Liriope and mulch* have been go-tos. For nonwinter: *bulbs* for sun and *hosta* for shade. Oh, and *grass* . Grass- cultivated weed that it is - helps rest the eye like nothing else. So i aerated and re-seeded grass also.
Thanks for sharing this information. I really appreciate this.😊 love your containers around your yard.
Sweet Woodruff is a happy plant here on the Northern California Coast. The other plant I love is chamomile, especially if you have a place you’d like a garden bench. You can plant the bench right in the chamomile circle for a fragrant resting spot.
Very informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I love Angelina seedum. It spreads quickly in sun or shade in my horrible clay soil where nothing else survives. It changes colors throughout the seasons and is easy to control.
Ditto on all of the above, esp horrible clay soil.
Where can I find seeds?
Thanks . I always appreciate hands on experience. Nice presentation..very articulate.
First the negative. I have found Sweet Woodruff a bit too bullyish.
Plants that thrive in my Alberta ( zone 4) garden as ground covers. Very favourite is Bunchberry. Nice shape leaves, White flowers, red berries. Magical. Like many plants slow to take off but then spreads quickly. Easy to contain. Second is Dryads...love them. Nodding yellow flowers and fuzzy seed heads. Another overlooked is Hepatica...not sure why it’s pricey but mine spread easily and welcome as the first spring blooms. Finally, Veronica whitelyi...just nice and great purple coloured flowers...fuzzy and soft..
I live in a dry climate but also MOSSES! They are fantastic and you can Get Instant results. Look into videos for easy to use mosses.
Re bear berry. I give mine a modest haircut. They are a woody plant and will spread better And thicker if Pruned.. Takes about 3 to 4 years for good coverage. If not pruned they get lanky.
Again, thanks. I will try a couple of your suggestions.
Thanks for sharing information.
One of the best vids on the topic
What a lovely garden!
Hi I’m zone 6a 🥶🥶🥶 Michigan! I so excited that you TEACH! By example. Beautiful garden layout 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Glad to meet you🙋🏽♀️👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Ooooh! Same growing zone. Awesome! I'm happy to share the things I've learned from trial & error. ;-)
Thyme has to be treated as something that needs to be replaced every three years. Yes, you can trim out the brown centers and let the space be recolonized but that can result in a gap you don’t know what to do with. I find the best results come from starting new cuttings and dividing the younger plants. This way, I have young plants in the pipeline ready to fill the space when needed.
Wow! Beautiful garden! I got some great ideas from you, thank you!
Thank you a knowledgeable and well presented video.
Congrats! You've crafted yourself a beautiful home!👍
I love seeing your garden because it's a lot like mine. Mine is small, with very small side yards (like 5 ft wide) so I have to grow fruit as espaliers too or my neighbors get mad if any branches come into their yards (they are the kind of folks who have nothing growing on their property but just keep it mowed down all the time so my stuff probably freaks them out a bit). Anyway, I am getting ideas from you regarding good groundcovers. I'm also trying to make everything I plant either edible, medicinal or attracting pollinators. Many of them are natives as well. It's so fun!
Your garden is beautiful & this video was really helpful. Thank you!
Beautiful yard! Very inspiring for sure.
Very informative and easy to understand . Presented calmly , which is a relief in this mad world , thankyou . Just subscribed 😊
Lovely garden and very helpful info; just what I have been looking for in my sunny/hot inland SoCal yard. I have some ice plant that is doing well but want to diversify a bit. Looks like red thyme may do it for me. Have a lot of sun and not much shade in summer.
Nice garden and list. Thanks for the tour.
will try the sweet woodruff! it's native here in Germany and you can use it for flavoring drinks - it's medicinal and slightly psycho-active which is why in Germany you drink "Mai-Bowle" a type of punch with woodruff to get slightly high ;) you drink it in May before the woodruff flowers because after that the concentrations of coumarin are getting too high
My yard in East Tennessee is over run with wild Violets. They are very tough. Where they grow it is very wet in winter and spring. Summer and fall it is very dry. It makes a beautiful sight when in bloom and the low growing heart shaped leaves are attractive too.
You can eat them too! The leaves and the flowers. I throw them in my family's salads and even the teenagers are ok with it.
I am So glad to find someone who Loves these beauties! Did you know you can make a lovely jelly after making a simple tea from the flowers of those Wild Violets?! My good friend won the "most original" award at our local fair for her heavenly tasting/scented entry a few years back! There are several types around, ours are Labrador Violets. I don't mind them in the yard or Woodland settings, however they tend to grow and spread viciously and push out, as well as strangle other already settled plantings in a garden bed! They actually smothered the roots and killed an 8 year old well performing rose of mine before I even knew what had happened! I no longer allow them to take root in the beds. Which is difficult as they spread by both seed and by rootlet! It's amazing how each plant behaves differently from place to place, depending on soil and temperatures! They must love Virginia's red clay because in the spring our yards are covered for a time with this and deadnettles alone! :)
Nancy Webb I have them all through our property so when some appeared at the edges of my new flower garden I left them and they got really big and beautiful and then the deer ate them. i thought they wouldn’t bother them because they grow everywhere else!
This is my dream - to plant things with at least two purposes. Decorative, protective (e.g. thorny berry bushes around perimeter of property), edible, shade, windbreak, good for birds/bees/other critters, etc.
I like how you did that, Albo. It looks nice. I will stop throwing away my cardboard. Today, I begin saving cardboard for my ground areas.
This is just what I was looking for. I have an edge area around my parking bay that is covered in huge wild vegetation that looks unkempt. I’m in Central PA in an urban area, so this is perfect!
Nice garden, good info.
Thanks!
I’m in the northern panhandle of Wv so we’re nearly neighbors.
I’ll check out your posts in the future.
This is great! Thank you so much for sharing this valuable information.
Great informative video! I originally bought Brass Buttons to represent ferns in an outdoor model railroad. I brought a few plants home and put them in the planter around my mailbox and they do well, with little maintenance. I also really like kinnickinick but did not bring any plants when I moved. I dug a few starts from an area where I used to work and they did really well. Thanks for reminding me of them. Regular moss is a big enough problem for me that I won't be adding any to my landscape. Way too many slugs to grow strawberries on the ground here in Western Washington (Zone 8b), for me anyway. A neighbor has Sedum Stonecrop and it is pretty invasive. I have managed to keep it out of my yard so far. I have done the Creeping Thyme and I didn't care for the way it looks when the centers die off but it is pretty nice otherwise. I have an area under my cedar trees where I can't get anything to grow, except weeds. Some native Oregon Grape sprouted up and I have been encouraging them along and they have really taken hold. Not really what I would call a ground cover but anything green under the cedars looks wonderful. I look forward to more watching more of your videos.
Love it!!! I have just started gardening mainly pots. This is and inspiration!!! Thank you.
I planted red creeping thyme last year and this year it's giving me beautiful magenta blooms. But it's not good at blocking weeds. I still have to pull out them out. It also grow only 12 inches wide and 1 inch tall. Creeping phlox is much better at weed control. My one plant spread quickly up to 2 feet the first year. By next spring it was all covered with gorgeous pink flowers and has grown 3 feet wide. This year I'm trying Mother of Thyme (thymus serpyllum). It grows faster than the red thyme and much better at blocking out weeds. Creeping thymes are more drought tolerant than their edible counterparts.
Thanks for your very informative video. My interest is in finding low level ground covers suitable for incorporating into my g-scale garden railway. Your video has given me some great ideas for what to use!
Great Garden! Thanks for the video!
Great ideas - thanks - much appreciated!
Looks beautiful. Nice designing with your plant selections.
Great seeing your ground covers. My favorite currently out is Kurapia since we can finally fill in a whole lawn all at once now that we produce it in sod form.
Great video! Enjoyed the list as well as the precursor to the list. And the recommended resource is an unexpected surprise!
you should try microclover for ground cover...looks beautiful, very green, almost like the perfect grass, yet its drought resistant (once established), its very tough and chokes out weeds, plus it provides nitrogen for your soil automatically, so perfect! I have just created my micro clover lawn this spring time and it looks so beautiful, the neighbors are all wondering what it is..:-)...
I love it! :)
can the be effective in north side shady area?
Is that hard to plant ? I’m a widow and live in the foot hills in Southern California . I’m on a budget but want something to choke out the weeds !!
@mojavewolf1 microclover is expensive and will revert to standard clover (tall and tangled) if not shorn regularly
First time viewer...I like you! I'm subscribed!
I've had very little experience with Sweet Woodruff, but what I have experienced I like - mostly because it's such a cheery-looking plant.
I agree! Mine is looking quite nice and filling in very well. Just be sure to place it in a spot where you can control it as it likes to spread.
@@Albopepper I planted some under a weeping willow; it didn't like that spot at all.
I really appreciate this video as I am always research a plant that will choke out the weeds and look pretty.
Thanks good stuff. Very inspiring and feels easy to accomplish.
Al that was a great video on ground covers. I may have to come back for a refresher if a custo er ever asks about ground covers.
Wow i was thinking of landscape fabric and gravel right over my ugly walkway! Now i know it can be done! Thanks
Is the gravel at all slippery with plastic underneath?
If you make quick abrupt steps, like lots of pivoting, you might skid or slip a little. I have no issues. But I wouldn't run on it or anything.
I loved this video so much that I'm watching it for the 3rd time. Love all the info..thanks!
First time viewer. I read several comments and all I can say is “Ditto “! New subscriber too!
Ditto here, too!
This was incredibly helpful, thank you!
Thanks so much for watching! :)
Great to see another video from you and what a great video. We are trialing dichondra in our pathways due to the evergreen nature and how it works in the heat and cold.
Thanks for watching Joseph! Dichondra looks like a pretty cool option. I hope it works out well!
Great job of explaining each one. Question: If I was to choose a ground cover to choke-out weeds from under raspberries, which variety would have the best coverage and not compete with their shallow root system? Thank you!
Wonderful basket grass works for me.
Just found your channel- very information and interesting! I just started a job at a nursery here in NE MO and will use what I learn for sure!! Thank you!
Pineberries can go with with strawberries. Pineberries need a pollinator like strawberries. I like ice plants and tri color sedum plus a mixed hardy sedum for groundcover and can walk on those. Just put in a berry bed of gooseberries, blueberries and honeyberries next to various raspberries. Will be adding more pine and strawberries to fill it up and a few annuals I can just easily plant in thick mulch for some interest and color. The bee balm is spreading like crazy in flower beds so got a bit more for groundcover. I have a large yard and planting never ends. Used some cardboard to break down and kill off roots then landscape fabric underneath better.
Also on ground-covers make sure that you get the ph right for each type as it will grown and hold up better- some want more acidic, others more alkaline. Also the soil texture - some like the sedum prefer having some granite dust added to the soil to encourage fast drainage.
Appreciate the information in an easy to follow format.
Love rupturewort. I live in the sand hills of NJ. Herniaria is one of the few lawn alternatives that thrives in this poor soil.
Gorgeous. I'm in Denver and I do the same.Grew up in pgh
I love what you do ,thank you for your nature friendly ideas Xx
Great job of explaining each one.
I have a yard that is 100 feet deep and 60 wide. This is giving me some GREAT ideas as to how to proceeed. Thank you! I live in South New Jersey, 15 miles from the shore. Juliana
Love your what you do and how you do it. One of the best❤️
Thank you so much for all your valuable information m. I can’t remember the name of my favorite, but it was the second from the last one you showed.
I’m scrolling through your videos to get help with a few things and have already found some ideas that may work.
Any thoughts on what to do with a western side of a house where a diseased tree was cut down and about 8” of moldy mulch hauled away? Now, it’s hot, sunny, and has no sprinkler system extension there. I live in SE MI, and was thinking of a smallish fruit tree and a pathway of something pretty. I’m a single, tiny woman, so I need low maintenance, but I live gardening!
Again, I thank you for sharing your knowledge! 🙏🌻
In California, Irish moss is a dark green, and Scotch moss is more chartreuse.
Love your paradise garden,thanks for the overview
Thank-you for watching! I appreciate it. :-)
I appreciate your reply. The video is informative, clear and detailed. Thank you for sharing!
Helpful. I need several types of groundcover.
Looks awesome
We use cardboard and paper grocery bags for sheet mulch. The worms love it.
Does there card board mold after a while? I have an area I just weeded, was going to spray vinegar salt and Dawn soap to kill the weeds, and then do brown paper lawn bags over the bed, then mulch. Does that even sound doable?
Great information. Thank you
oh wow zone 6. same as me. I thought you were in a warmer zone. nice to see a video from you again. I planted some alpine (non runner) strawberries from saved seeds, about 20 ft x 2 ft all along the front of my place. works awesome and they have hundreds of little strawberries coming now. if you save seeds from an heirloom and start them indoors in February, you can have a tray full of 100s of little seedlings that are tough little buggers and transplant easily.
I also put a big swatch of lupines against a north fence and a big patch of greek oregano, a patch of parsley, couple patches of chives, and some echinacea and some other flowers. I have done virtually nothing to it yet this year except pull out a handful of weeds, haven't even watered it yet :)
Another great video! Your property looks very nice indeed! My main ground cover takes sun or shade, can be stepped on, goes dormant in times of drought but comes back with rain, it can withstand almost any winter 🥶, you can chop it down and it grows back, I grow it on all the pathways between my vegetable beds, it’s grass of course!
Klaus
What is it that you grow that you love so much?
Thank you x one thousand!!
Wish you a fruitful season 👍
Thanks for watching Filipe! :)
Your lot is beautiful. You should be proud of the work you've done.
Excellent information and I'm really impressed with what you've managed to grow on this site. I'd suggest you slow down the camera movement. I almost felt dizzy a few times. But your descriptions and information were spot on. I have definitely subscribed to learn more.
Nice video and some different ground covers I haven't seen before. I always loved Corsican Mint. Tiny creeping leaves not unlike creeping thyme. It is very easy to rip it up if it's in the wrong spot and then simply lay it on the spot of dirt you want it to be planted on because it propagates easily that way. Plus it smells great when you step on it.
So tiny, soft, green & pretty. And that lovely scent! Mice hate the smell, might keep them and other critters away from the house. I’ve also heard of chives as an edging. Cool idea. Never tried it.
@@lolodee3528spiders avoid it also
Thanks for this. Easy to follow for me, an absolute beginner. Starting the lengthy process of landscaping/remodeling. This helps.