any ideas for mulch/ground cover for high winds area?

[aussieheelr]

So here's the deal. I have a bay window in the kitchen facing south and it just framed the yard SO nicely I planted a flower bed below it. However this flowerbed being on the south and shading from the west (waiting for some trees to grow) gets heavy sun allday from the south and west. SO the soil drys out FAST and with the winds we get (being in the middle of corn fields and on a bit of a knob) from March-June at adverage of 15mph with gusts up to 75 at times all the cedar mulch I think is now in Nebraska lol. SO we need something that would stay put and keep the area from drying out so fast.

So far I can't think of a mulch that would work but have thought of maybe a ground cover. What would you think about:
1.Gnarled Cushion
2. Dwarf Stonecrop
3. Wooly Thyme
4. Cascade Speedwell

Should maybe point out that I have CA poppies, blue iris, pink and blue hyacinth, grape hyacinth, Glads, and a few dafidils.

 

[patandchickens]

I would suggest rocks except that in full day S/W sun exposure they would cook most plants.

So instead I will suggest using very coarse wood chips, maybe even *pieces* of wood, either alone or over top of a finer wood-based mulch.

Or if you have evergreens around that you can cut branches off several times a year, you can cut sufficient evergreen boughs to cover the ground and then stake them in with U-shaped wire stakes (make your own) or weigh down with some strategically placed larger rocks.

Or you can use fairly coarse mulch e.g. large bark chips and cover with a fine plastic mesh (like bird netting, that kind of thing) that you peg down well... it is invisible from a distance but close up you will see the fine black netting, but it *does* keep the mulch in place. (At least for me in my backyard/upwind bare-ground wind-tunnel-against-house-wall beds )

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[wsmoak]

I was also going to suggest wood chips. I'm using them around my horse's water trough and in front of his shelter, and they haven't moved despite some impressive wind. (They do shift around in torrential rain, but I just rake them back where they belong.)

We make them with the chipper when we trim trees and clear brush, about 1/4 to 1/2" bits.

--
Wendy

 

[thistlebloom]

I think you've picked some good ground covers to act as living mulch. I was particularly intrigued by the gnarled cushion, I think it's beautiful and would work well with your bulbs. When the bulbs are through blooming you will still have an attractive green area of interest. Green is so cooling in an area such as you describe. Keep us posted with what you decide to do .

 

[patandchickens]

If you want something living, what about hens-and-chicks and all the varieties thereof?

Pat

 

[aussieheelr]

Never thought of the wood chips with bird netting. Wood chips would be free (we have an awesome neighbor) so we'd only be out the netting... But I think it's going to be too difficult to decide now... I might just have to do a bit of narled cushion, hen'n chicks in "clumps" and the bark for the rest and kind of see how it goes.

 

[thistlebloom]

One thing about the netting is that you're going to have a hard time growing plants in a netted area. You could cut holes in it to insert plants... debris will also be a pain to remove , you wont be able to rake without tearing the netting. I think if you use the heavier larger wood chip/chunks netting wouldn't be necessary.

 

[lesa]

The one ground cover that I find I cannot kill, and is quite attractive, is Vinca Vine. Can you grow that in your neck of the woods? It is very forgiving here, and never really dies....

 

[patandchickens]

One thing about the netting is that you're going to have a hard time growing plants in a netted area. You could cut holes in it to insert plants... debris will also be a pain to remove , you wont be able to rake without tearing the netting. I think if you use the heavier larger wood chip/chunks netting wouldn't be necessary.

I haven't had any problem planting thru netting, in the bed where I put it to discourage the then-free-ranging chickens from scratching all over. You plant thru holes you cut in it; the plants can spread easily all on their own (sprouting up thru the meshes). It has never occurred to me to rake ANY flowerbed let alone this one, but I suppose if one were in the habit of raking then yeah it'd be a disadvantage.

If it were me I'd try coarser wood chunks first simply because you do notice the plastic mesh when you're close up. (Although it does work reasonably well vs chickens, if anyone cares )

Pat

 

[thistlebloom]

Well Pat, I will defer to your experience since my opinion in the
netting-on-bed area is biased.
I do rake my (net-free ) beds in early spring after cutting down spent foliage,and before the bulk of the perennials come up.


I have a number of customers with chicken wire in beds for one reason and another, and several who use netting as deer discourager over hedges, and this time of year I have a rake in my hands many hours of the day, so I was speaking from the prejudice of spending many fiddly moments untangling rake tines or trying to gently disengage debris from said protections. I realize this wouldn't probably be a big deal if you weren't doing it all day, several days a week...

The netting sounds like a good plan for chickens bent on garden mayhem though!