I mulch religiously – by which I don’t mean carting everything off to a compost heap just to bring it all back again. I cut all soft growth down and leave it, to replenish the place it came from, help preserve moisture, smother weeds and save me a lot of effort.
So I’m used to seeing plants push their way through all that stuff in the spring.
I am also very tolerant of ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria) . I actually have a small bed where I grow ground elder as an ornamental plant. Though I have to acknowledge that my small is other people’s whole garden, so maybe it’s not even really small. It gets grass in it as a weed, which is annoying.
Elsewhere I think it grows in almost every bed, sometimes in the variegated form. And, strangely, other plants seem to grow happily through it. So in spring, you’ll see sheets of ground elder, come summer you see other things.
Is this just me? Because I tend to grow strong, vigorous plants, otherwise often called ‘thugs’?
We also have some woodland, where every year the trees donate their leaves as mulch, and every year we see plants growing happily through this cover, finding the light and no doubt enjoying the benefits of the decaying leaves. Even delicate little things like wood anemones make it through the cover.
So, you gather, I hate bare soil. I don’t use or need a hoe. But I really don’t know what it takes to totally smother plants, and that must happen. In fact, Jeff (our gardener) cut the miscanthus down this year in one lump. He used to cut it down in small bits, but since we lost the surrounding hedging, he was anxious it would blow away like that. And I began to think, when spring came, that the big lumps of cut grass were smothering new growth.
But it has been a very dry, cold spring. It’s hard, isn’t it, going round the garden, rejoicing in those things which emerge and looking anxiously for the rest. And April has finally arrived in May. Warmth and showers at last, so who knows what will now appear which I was missing and worried about? But I did spread the dead grasses around a bit where I thought they were smothering, so how can I tell what they would have got through in the end if I hadn’t?
And thinking of how we like to let every plant have its own unencumbered space around it, what about the meadow? It’s unbelievably crowded with plants. It’s ancient pasture, meaning things have been growing together and seeding into it for at least a couple of hundred years. How many plants are happily co-existing in every square foot? Do they like having company?
It seems an awful lot of people remove all the debris from their soil and few people grow ground elder or an equivalent plant. So how can I solve this riddle of what will smother a plant? How often would a plant grow cheerfully through things we (you?) desperately remove? And do plants actually enjoy being crowded? Do they like the company of ground elder? How will we ever find out?
O – and YES! We are opening this year! No need to book, just turn up (pay!) and enjoy.
Woodland plants coming up through leaf litter: love that look! Not so sure about the heavy bunches of miscanthus. I’m glad you moved some of it out of the way.
I just rearranged it so the bulk wasn’t over the newly emerging grasses – and they seem to be coming through. Horrific if they don’t!
I’ve been following your lead, Anne, and cutting back and leaving the cuttings on the surface ever since I read your article on the subject in a newspaper. So it has been a good few years.
It’s been a revelation! Of course I appreciate not having the back-breaking work of carting the debris to the compost heap only having to bring it back later, but I also much prefer the appearance for the rest of the winter. There is something of the forest floor in the look and I too dislike bare earth. That all aside, I truly believe that the greater benefit is to the soil. There’s no doubt in my mind that it is better now than it was before I started this method, and as a result my plants are stronger and even seem more disease resistant.
Keep spreading the word Anne! It’s a win:win for both the garden and the gardener.
I’m sure too that the soil shows the benefit. I’m so glad you’ve found it helpful and thank you for letting me know. Xx
Your post has cheered me immensely!I too like Ground elder & I love it when it flowers so Ive got it in my garden in some quantity!I like your idea of using cut down plants as mulch.I tried it & it was v,successful ,but I must be honest it made things look so untidy that I did’nt bother this year.I just left stalks uncut ( that looked untidy too) but it did offer some protection from fost.
How well do you find the ground elder gets on with it’s neighbouring plants? Do they manage to keep it in order?
I have sometimes left the plants until spring, then just trodden them down, but I think, given our usually soggy winters, that I prefer the look of it down. Just a choice and it seems grand either way.
I like ground elder myself though I no longer grow it as I have a small garden and the neighbors might object. You mentioned box blight in a previous blog. I’ve just been reading about ilex crenata, Japanese holly, as a small leaved substitute. Might be worth considering?
It’s terribly expensive, unreliable, doesn’t clothe to the ground and we also have Holly blight! Xxx