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| Bit by bit I am planning my garden, sun and shady areas. As it is quite huge and I already have a massive veggie patch- I'm hoping for perennial plant suggestions that are tight/tough/vigorous enough that will keep weeds at bay!
Main thing is weedy grasses that blow in from surrounding farms!! Anything that can squeeze out horsetails (maybe hostas planted tight?) THANKS for any ideas! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I look for ground covers. I grow plants that people say are aggressive or a plant that is considered a spreader. I am like you I do not like nor do I have time to weed. So I plant tight and use ground covers. You do have to know the kind of gardener you are. Some gardeners like space between their plants so each plant is specimen. If that will bother you maybe do one garden and see if you like the look. Here are couple of my gardens that might help you for visual. Sunny area.... This is another bulb and bush area. I have a yellow barberry bush, bishop weed, bulbs. The Bulbs are the only flower in the area. But from Spring to Fall there is a flower coming up and the ground is covered and the only weed I have is Bishop weed. LOL |
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| You have been given good advice, but such coverage does not happen overnight. Two or three inches of mulch will control the weeds until you get the plant coverage. Al |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, Feb 3, 12 at 12:11
| man you live in a dream world.. lol ... you are rejecting reality.. and trying to substitute your own ... good luck with that ... lol i have horsetail all over my 1500 hosta ... and.. in my world.. grass is the most invasive weed in the universe ... and if it wants to be there.. wherever ... it will be there.. it is not out-competed by anything ... [and it was a heck of a job getting it out of the bishops weed at the old house ... generic roundup works on both .. i put it in a very expensive container [see link] ... full strength .. and walk around the yard and simply drip it down each horse tail sprig ... the applicator allows precise application .. with no worry of aerosolization and drift ... it also works well with little clumps of whatever other weed you want to eradicate ... return 100% [41%] roundup to the container for safe storage .... ken check this out also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8qcccZy03s |
Here is a link that might be useful: the applicator form, not the brand name ...think dollar store
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- Posted by christie_sw_mo Z6 (My Page) on Fri, Feb 3, 12 at 12:44
| I don't know if I have horsetails but I'm in a rural area surrounded by hayfields so I feel your pain. It does make a difference. There's not as much to blow in if you're surrounded by manicured lawns. There's a huge variety of grasses and weeds in the hayfields in my area and of course it's left to mature. Planting close together will help but you'll still have weeds so you might as well make it easy to pull them by putting down mulch. Put down several layers of newspaper first, right on top of your lawn (unless you want to dig up all the sod), then mulch on top of that. Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' does a pretty good job at keeping the weeds away for me. It's not a ground cover, but a mounding(?) plant that spreads out over a pretty big area and is thick enough that nothing comes up through it (so far). It has a long bloom time. Beautiful photos Marquest! |
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| Actually many plants planted close together are good weed suppressors. All my big perennial beds function this way. I do not have the same experience with hostas as mentioned before. Densely planted hostas function very well as weed suppressors. Extremely good plants for wet places:Ligularia dentata(chokes everything), well grown Smilacina racemosa for shade, well grown rhododendron bushes. The rule here is : do not leave empty spaces. |
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| Yes, agree that planting densely will suppress a great deal of weeds, but in reality, like Al mentioned, it doesn't happen instantaneously unless you have a big budget to fill in those big beds with big mature plants right out of the gate. So, in the meantime while the plants are filling in, a few inches of mulch will help keep the weeds down, as will pulling any seedlings you find ASAP. Much easier to pull a small plant or tiny seedling before they turn into big monsters with corresponding monstrous root systems. I know you said you don't have time to weed, and many of us are pressed for time also, but spending a small block of time a couple days of week (or a few minutes every day) patrolling for weed starts will pay off in labor in the long run. Especially easy after a good rain :0) But, like Ken mentioned, grass is what it is and is going to grow wherever it wants, it is a PITA and you can't just easily pull up grass unless it's just starting to get a foothold. If you don't notice it creeping in and all of a sudden BAM! there's a chunk of it where you don't want it, you need to get out the shovel and have at it. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Feb 4, 12 at 15:46
| OP said: I'm hoping for perennial plant suggestions that are tight/tough/vigorous enough that will keep weeds at bay! ===>>> and here is the dichotomy ... what does OP mean by 'at bay' .. i am suggesting NOTHING will choke it out and remove it.. others are talking about stopping it before it comes.. so both are correct .. but i am not sure either answers OP ... if the weeds are already there.. there is no easy solution other than removing them yourself.. NOTHING will choke them out and keep them at bay ... [my version] but if you start fresh.. plant properly.. and mulch in the meantime.. you can develop beds that are highly weed free .... [the other version] .... but again.. you arent going to plant a bunch of stuff on a weed bed.. and hope for the best ... lol.. i've tried.. it didnt work ... ken |
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| And what I meant when I said I did not have time.....I really meant I did not have time. LOL In theory if you are not employed or come home every evening early enough to walk your gardens and weed that is ideal. But people with careers or their job is leaving on business trips on Monday and return Friday and your Saturday and Sunday is raining..... pulling weeds is not something you will be doing. |
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| One perennial that never seems to allow weeds to grow is bergenia. Mind you, I have mine in the shade where I don't really have a problem with weeds. My main sun perennial bed is thickly planted and weeds aren't a huge issue there. I have a barrier to prevent grass from invading it. I find that quack grass is the worst weed. Its roots can go quite deep and it loves to spread into my beds. But when there is mulch the roots seem to stay near the surface so are easier to control. But still I have to stay on top of it. |
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| Well, if you really don't have ANY time and are expecting zero maintenance, then I would suggest that the best approach is to make peace with the situation and accept the fact that some weeds are inevitable (shrug). Keeping beds weed-free mean work, at least on some level - either by manually removing or spraying. Even if you get a thick planting of desireables established, some weeds are still going to find their way in. Hey, I get it -- last season I was working one full-time and two part-times (!), now am down to two jobs and grad school. I had to accept the fact that I do not have time to water, don't have the money for sprinklers, and if stuff got crispy so be it.... |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Feb 5, 12 at 11:02
| Well, if you really don't have ANY time and are expecting zero maintenance, then I would suggest that the best approach is to make peace with the situation and accept the fact that some weeds are inevitable (shrug). ==>>> thats when you put 90% of your beds into wildflower meadow .. which is half weed anyway .. lol ... and then just keep a small formal garden for what time you have to do the job properly ... i have one space.. probably about 1/3 to 1/2 acre.. that i simply dont mow ... and you would be amazed at the beauty and diversity of what comes up naturally ... including all the wind borne weeds from the area farms ... and what grasses actually do.. when not shore every 72 hours .... that is also the beauty of dripping roundup around.. after dinner.. grab the bottle of scotch.. and the application.. and go spread some joy to your weeds ... its always a job.. if you have to make it a 10 hour.. all day Saturday job... but if you are just rambling around the yard.. after dinner.. as the heat cools and the sun sets.. you can kill lots of things in no time at all ... [just make sure you make it close to your own bed .. before you drain the scotch bottle.. lol .... its not good when the neighbors find you laying in the yard.. screaming obscenities at your weeds... face down in the garden bed ... threatening them with what look like a bottle of mustard ... and an empty bottle of intestinal fortitude ....] and a week later.. when they have started to shrivel ... they are real easy to pull out ... and discard.. if you dont want to let them simply compost in the garden .... man it hurts to laugh with a sinus cold ... ken |
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| mxk3, I feel your pain. We love to garden if only there were more days added to the days of a week. I have seen people that have perfect gardens and I wished I had the time. But I had to work around the time I had because that time is such a joy. There actually are times pulling weeds is good for my mental health. Many times I have gone out and named each of the weeds I pulled. I could name the weed one of the clients that I did not smack for making my life miserable. Another weed could be the student that cheated on a test. It can be very therapeutic. LOL But really I have read here that so many would not have bishop weed in their garden and I understand. But if you let this stuff grow it will be the ONLY weed and it knows how to make sure it does not happen. Every plant has a place it just depends on the gardener and what they like and want their garden to look like. I did not set out to grow Bishop weed it was accident it came attached to something. I started traveling and did not get a chance to weed and it took over. I just started putting different bulbs in that garden and realized I could have flowers in that garden from June-Sept and never weed. It even hide the bulb leaves after the bloom. It has become my perfect "no weed" flower area. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Feb 5, 12 at 13:55
| I have seen people that have perfect gardens and I wished I had the time. ===>>> boy you have this one backwards.. the perfect garden is the one that brings you pleasure at the level you wish to invest .... it should not really be about making something look like someone elses .. its about being happy with what you can do ... w/in your capabilities.. and i think that is where OP is trying to go on some level ... thats what i was trying to say with the 1/2 acre i simply do not mow ... that was so foreign to me when i first did it.. but the result fit in well with my inability to develop that area to someone elses expectations ... ken |
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| No, No ken....it was not that I wanted their garden. When I said perfect is was what I would like to do with the plants that I like. True the perfect garden is what brings you pleasure....but when you cannot give it the level you wish but the level you have time to invest is another story. It is not about 'copy what someone has' but a style of garden that you would like.... Some people do not have the luxury of devoting the level of time they wish to a garden. If somebody else would pay these pesky bills for me I could stop wishing. lol |
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