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."
my favorite ground covers that stay green year round
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I was deep in my spring garden clean-up the other day, and one of my surprises when I pulled back all the dead foliage was my creeping thyme, which had stayed lush and green through winter! (Despite some frigid temps in the low 20s Fahrenheit.) It survived on just the scant rainfall we got the last few months, and now that it's warming 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 3 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:
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! Seasonal TipsIf you live in the western part of the country, you know it's been an exceptionally warm winter. Ski resorts in the Cascades, Rockies, and Sierra have had record-low snowpack, and I'm thankful that our local resort, Mt. Bachelor, hung on till today—the last day of the 25/26 season. (They normally close on Memorial Day.) A cold storm moved through a few days ago and dropped 2 feet of snow on the resort, which was a fun last hurrah. We camped at the mountain and BBQed with friends for the final weekend. I had a gorgeous bluebird day on Summit with my 10-year-old, and got the Rainbow chair not once, but twice! with my ski buddy. Usually the end of ski season means the start of summer, but since it ended a month early this year, I'm looking forward to some spring hikes and bike rides before it gets too hot. I'm worried about our summer wildfire season this year because of the low snowpack, but hopeful we might have a rainy spring to saturate the ground. 🤞 Our property in Oregon has water rights, which means we're allotted a set amount of water from the river to irrigate our land. That amount varies year to year depending on the water supply, and there's a chance we might not have enough to go through the whole summer. So, I'm dialing in the drip irrigation in our garden to make sure we use our water wisely. If you're trying to figure out how long to run your drip irrigation this season, use my run time calculator as a starting point. P.S. An evergreen ground cover is essential in any garden. Here are the best choices for zones 3 and above! |
Garden Betty
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."