Content
- Ground cover - the best varieties and the best planting time
- Ground cover - the advantages
- So why plant groundcover?
- The best ground cover species for special planting reasons
- For the removal of weeds
- For decorative purposes
- As an underplant
- As a filling
- Planting ground cover - how and when
- Point of time
- Anwachshilfen
Creeping spindle is one of the most popular ground cover
Ground cover - the best varieties and the best planting time
Groundcovering is a fine thing for gardeners: they promote a good soil quality, are easy to care for and often also a simple, unobtrusive decoration. Which species are suitable for which purposes and when they should be planted, you will find below.
Ground cover - the advantages
Groundcovering - hence their name - has the typical characteristic of generously covering the ground. They include larger earth surfaces with their leafy and branching root system - and thus bring with it some positive effects. On the one hand they loosen up the soil, keep it moist and provide humus rich and lively earth. On the other hand, they protect, above all, the evergreen species, the reason for weed overgrowth, from stronger temperature fluctuations and from intense sunlight.
The ground cover services at a glance:
So why plant groundcover?
Basically, the planting of ground cover provides everywhere, where should not be high, sighting vegetation, but otherwise bare areas would arise. In addition, they can consolidate the soil in these places, protect from strong weathering and erosion.
Even where you do not want to weed constantly, such as in the front yard or in the grave planting, ground cover are a practical solution.
Also as a filler in flowerbeds, a ground cover may be suitable. Between tall shrubs, small, flat pads can be varied and loosen up.
Furthermore, groundcover can be used as a subplantation of certain trees or shrubs that have a delicate root system and do not like rough, hand-tilled soil. A ground cover can gently keep weeds out, provide growth-enhancing soil life, and often provide a pretty visual contrast to flowering shrubs.
Possible planting grounds for ground cover:
The best ground cover species for special planting reasons
For the removal of weeds
In order to keep open spaces in the front yard or on graves permanently from annoying weeds, especially the evergreen ground cover. Because only they form a closed plant carpet even in winter and prevent sprouting weeds from sprouting early in the year. Good weedkillers and their benefits are:
For decorative purposes
If ground coverers offer an attractive spectacle in addition to their practical purpose, two birds are killed with one stone.
Decorative species and their optical properties are:
As an underplant
Particularly suitable for planting shrubs or woody plants are ground cover with loose root system, which protects the ground under the high plant, but whose roots do not bother.
Suitable varieties for this are:
As a filling
As gap fillers in beds, dense, robust upholstery-forming ground covers are particularly suitable. It is best to always plant them in the front of the bed, so that they are not obscured by tall perennials. Also pay attention to a pase structure change in the overall picture of the bed.
Good groundcover varieties for beds are:
Planting ground cover - how and when
When you want to fill an area with a ground cover, it depends on how and when you look at the location and what you intend to do with it.
If you just want to fill an otherwise bare area, you can buy easy-care varieties by the meter in stores. Depending on the growth rate of the variety you need between 12 and 24 plants per square meter. If the plant cover should close quickly, you would rather expect a little more than enough.
Point of time
Ground cover is best planted in late summer. Because at that time, most of the weeds have expired for now and are not as vigorous anymore. This facilitates the settlement of the ground cover. At the same time, the groundcover has enough time to settle in the ground before winter comes. Nevertheless, you should thoroughly remove all weed and other plant remains before planting. To help the groundcover grow and thrive, you can add some mature compost to the substrate.
Anwachshilfen
Of course, while the ground cover grows, it does not have much to counter budding weeds. However, hacking in ground cover areas is fundamentally taboo - it damages the densely branched root system, which of course is particularly sensitive in the seedling phase. A good solution to this problem is to cover the plant spaces with bark mulch. It keeps weeds away naturally and does not disturb the growth of the ground cover.