The Benefits Of Using Mulch With Ground Cover Plants

Ground cover plants are a wonderful way to cover bare areas of your yard and fill in spaces in your flower beds. They are also terrific for rock gardens. Sometimes referred to as living mulch, ground cover provides an array of benefits including nice visual interest, they are low–maintenance, they improve the soil, and they are good at controlling weed growth once the ground cover has established and spread. Until they do, this is where adding mulch around your newly planted plants can be helpful. Mulching around newly planted ground cover plants can help control weeds while your ground cover is getting established. It can also retain moisture so you don't have to water as often, although you should always check your soil to be sure it isn't too dry especially in summer.

A few things to remember when using mulch around your ground cover plants is to choose the best type of mulch for your garden, such as a shredded or aged leaf mulch or aged bark mulch. and make sure that the ground cover plants you are mulching around don't spread by self-seeding. Mulch can suppress the self-seeding of these types of ground cover the same way they suppress weeds which will prevent those ground covers from spreading properly. Ground cover that spreads by underground rhizomes will not be suppressed by adding mulch. For ground cover that spreads by stems above ground or stolons, using a lighter layer of mulch will prevent any problems with the plants spreading normally.

During the first couple of seasons after you plant your ground cover, you can use mulch around the plants to help prevent weeds from cropping up while the plants you want are working on getting established. Plan on adding about 2 inches of mulch and don't mound it up at the base of the plants. If you have chosen ground cover plants like creeping phlox or foam flower, they thrive on the organic matter that is mixed in with mulch. These particular plant species spread above ground through stolons, but will not be negatively affected by the added mulch if you don't pile it on too thick.

Since it will typically take a couple of years for your ground cover plants to spread and cover the ground the way you desire, you may need to refresh the mulch in your garden periodically. You don't have to remove the old mulch first before adding more, but you don't want to exceed a 2-3 inch thickness overall. If adding more will exceed that thickness, removing some of the old mulch may be required first before you add new. Mulch decomposes as it ages and will add nutrients to the soil during the decomposition process which provides the ground cover plants with extra nutrition that helps them thrive.