The Dead Lawn Society - Part2

The other one was getting a bit long. We came from here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/467438/#new

I have purchased a bunch of ground cover to start the process. This will be a project for years to come. I have 15 4" pots of Blue Star Creeper. They are to be planted 12 " apart. Do you suggest I dig up the sod and replace with compost and plant these? Or? What is the formula to calculate how much area these will cover?

I'm not familiar with this, but have you looked at Plant Files? http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1892/
It says 18-24" apart.
Also, I googled groundcover+calculator and there are lots of them online.

Hope this helps.

And I would definitely get rid of your sod, otherwise the grass will be fighting with the groundcover (and probably winning!) And the grass will be a lot harder to get rid of once you have the groundcover planted. If you don't want to dig up the grass, you can smother it with newspaper for a while, then once it's dead cut holes in the paper and plant your groundcover (if you don't wait until the grass is dead, it's likely to pop up through those same holes that you cut to plant the groundcover, then you're in almost the same situation as if you didn't try to get rid of the grass in the first place.)

I just read an article about this after posting here. The method suggested is laying a ground cloth down. Cut X's @ each spot you want to put a plant doing this over and over til you have planted the area w/ your plants. For me it will stop @ my 15 for this year.Then between the plants put down bark dust or compost or both which says will smother the grass. Same idea as newspaper. thanks for your help, you guys/gals.

I would recommend against the weed cloth, unless it's degradable, which I doubt. We're still digging it up around here and it's a pain in the rear. Multiple layers of newspaper will break down and feed the soil, at least. You can also cover with black plastic for several weeks to kill everything before planting. I understand this works well, as it gets any weed seeds lying in wait. JMO

is this anything like The Womens Murder Club ? lol ( it's a tv program)


Just found this thread .......... It is a good-un IMO ♥♥

........... had to pop in and add that earthworms L-O-V-E

newspaper so that is another bonus ☺

I'm in the moving 700 mile one way mode here so don't get to visit often.
If I had my druthers I would kill off the entire lawn and plant low growing clover with some chocolate mint here and there. I got the mint years ago from MaVie rose .( I am bringing some with me ;-)

Carry on , I will be here in spirit until I get internet hooked up at the new house. Just think no more wading through hip deep snow for me . hahahahahaha

Spider Day Lily
Nina Winegar

I agree about using newspaper rather than weed cloth, I've read bad things about weed cloth and what it does to the soil underneath, even if the cloth is biodegradable it doesn't break down near as quick as the newspaper. Newspaper will allow your soil to breathe better, exchanging water & air and allowing all the good micro-organisms and worms and things in the soil to thrive. Even though it says water can go through easily, weed cloth doesn't allow as good transfer of water and air so it's harder for all the good stuff to live down there, and the soil underneath it in my experience tends to get more compacted than it would normally. So I'll use it under paths/patios but not on garden beds.

OK, I am a true believer & user of newspaper in the garden so w/ this project I will use it! Thank you one and all.

How much is dues to join? Is this weekly, bi-weekly...annually? LOL