For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."
ground covers that'll stay green year-round
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I was deep in my garden spring clean-up yesterday, and one of my surprises when I pulled back all of the dead foliage was my creeping thyme, which had stayed lush and green all through winter! (Despite some frigid temps in the single digits.) It survived on just the snow and rainfall we got the last few months, and now that it's starting to warm up, I can see a lot of new growth. That one creeping thyme started out as a little 4-inch plant and has turned into a mound at least 2 feet wide. I use it as a living mulch around my rhubarb and it's so hardy and resilient, I'm thinking I need to get more for the rest of my perennial beds. Evergreen ground covers are useful in so many ways, among them: smothering early weeds (I have zero in my rhubarb bed), feeding the soil, keeping erosion in check, insulating plant roots, and being one of the first plants to come back every spring. You know how I feel about perennials... I LOVE them in my garden! (See: my favorite perennial herbs and perennial vegetables.) And luckily for us cold-climate gardeners, there are super hardy ground covers that'll stay green down to zone 3! Speaking of my garden clean-up day... Here's what my perennial herb bed looked like when I started: And because I always love a good "after" pic, here's where I ended up: Not bad, right? It might be a little shocking to hear this, but I almost never clean up my garden in fall when everything starts to die back. One—I'm usually tired from all the rest of my garden chores (like putting trellises away and preserving what I can), but mostly it's two—I leave all the dead branches and dried leaves around as winter cover for the soil, for my perennial plants, and for any beneficial insects and small wildlife. Birds love those dried-up seed heads on your flowers, and all the garden debris (as long as it wasn't diseased) makes a good free mulch for your bed. I mean, if I cleaned it all up, I'd have to put down a fresh layer of straw anyway—so might as well use what I already have in there! This "lazy" gardening technique is one I cover in my Lazy Gardening course. And despite the name, it's not about doing nothing—but about working more efficiently (and with nature) so you can maximize your harvest with a minimum of work. You can see what the course is all about right here. Or, you can sign up for free three videos that are a sample of what you'll get when you join Lazy Gardening Academy. The videos go over my top 3 rules you should break when it comes to gardening—and fall clean-up is one of them. There's no pressure to buy. You can watch the videos at your leisure, no strings attached. If you think my style of teaching vibes with what you want to learn this year, I'd love to see you inside Lazy Gardening Academy.
P.S. An evergreen ground cover is essential in any garden. Here are the best choices for zones 3 and above!​ P.P.S. Don't forget to sign up for my free video series: The 3 gardening rules you need to break to have a more productive (and lower maintenance) garden. |
Garden Betty
Gardening made easy, life made simpler.
For people who want to grow more food with less work. 🌱 This is my weekly newsletter loved by 38,000+ subscribers—here's what one of them had to say: "These are not the regular run-of-the-mill garden-based emails. You actually touch on more unusual tidbits that encourage me to keep growing and learning."