Everything you need to know to grow great ground cover
Weed well before you start planting – you want to give your friendly creepers as much of a chance as possible to spread without having to compete too much.
You can plant any of these plants now to get them going, but if you get all the perennials in before and during autumn they’ll get a head start for next year.
Deadhead ground cover after flowering, shearing back to revitalise it. With really low-growing plants you could even put the mower on a high se ing and trim off the tops that way.
Always water in plants you’ve just planted really well, and give deciduous ones a mulch to suppress weeds and encourage new growth in spring.
Beware of extra vigorous ground cover plants! Their very nature means they like to creep around and take over. It’s often a good thing, but in the case of creeping comfrey or mint, for example, they can get too invasive if left unchecked. Plant them amid underground barriers to curb growth.
Try to make the most of your ground cover with successive planting. Plant some spreading bulbs that span the seasons. Mix up evergreen and deciduous planting of annuals and perennials to fill spaces and bring colour through the year.
Ground cover plants save money, as they colonise nooks and crannies, so you don’t have to invest in any more plants there. But you can further economise by using plants that you can divide up to increase your stock, such as lamiums and geraniums.
A wonderful feature to try is a bed of hardy heathers, which will spread and knit together pleasingly into a colourful pink and white carpet. Try callunas in neutral to acidic soil, and ericas in neutral to alkaline soil.
Herbs make for excellent ground cover, perhaps planted into its own bed or circular feature. Go for mint, thyme, chamomile, wild strawberries, or prostrate rosemary.
Fill gaps in allotments with calendula or poached egg plant, which will look sensational and help to suppress weeds. Plant wild strawberries under larger fruit bushes or trees.
You can create ground cover features in miniature in containers, thereby making pots with standards or trees in more interesting at soil level. Try lobelias, ivies or perhaps a creeping zinnia.
Step-side planting is always a ractive and wonderful for a wild, natural country co age look. Creepers such as mind-your-own-business, creeping Jenny, thyme or campanula will do the job.
An excellent way to plant up a slope – so you’ll have li le maintenance to contend with on a tricky surface – is with ground cover. You’ll need something robust and
sturdy, such as periwinkle, cotoneaster or heathers.