If you enjoyed this video and you'd like to see more of Kareen's cold climate food forest, check out her full tour! » ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
Thank you! Those are great recommendations! Strawberries and creeping thyme are not bad too as ground cover. I don't fight much grass but a lot of sheep's sorrel that have about the same growing pattern as grass. Have a great end of summer!
Thanks for watching! Creeping thyme is also great, I agree. However, I've found the grass gets into my strawberries, unfortunately, so haven't found it to be an effective groundcover in my situation.
Thank you for these suggestions. I've been researching which plants to use in my gardens/food forest and will definitely give lambs ear and oregano a try.
I've found my most effective way to rid an area of grass is to light deprive it first, with cardboard and a thick layer of leaves, or a heavy tarp, or any other light depriving cover. Then wait a whole season. Voila. Easy Peasy. Just time. It does kill also, anything else growing with the grass, but SO much easier than other, digging methods. Much of my garden has been carved out of "lawn", and when it encroaches again, I use the tarps or deep leaf cover to reclaim and "clean" areas.
Yes, this is a great approach and that's what I used to establish my food forest. I sheet mulched the whole area with cardboard and layers and layers of straw, leaves and wood chip. However, I've found that over the years, the grass starts to creep back in.
Great Information! Oregano is in the mint family as is marjoram, etc. There are many wild mint family members worth considering, Coyote Mint for example. They all have, if not edible, then herbal or at least odorous uses. Also consider artemisia.
How do you handle the dying off of the lamb's ear? I love the texture it adds to soften things up and the pollinator attraction factor. When it dies off it creates a mess. Good for composting, yes, but, unsightly as anything. When is the best time to trim it back without killing it so the gooey mess doesn't spoil the asthetics? Thank you! Also, a big plus for the mint is it is a natural pest control for unwanteds such as spiders. Planting it around or near the foundation of structures to keep the nasty bugs out.
I just trim it and clean it up in the spring. Though my tolerance for messiness might be higher than yours ;-). But that's typically my approach is to leave everything up over the winter for habitat and then clean things up come spring.
Thanks for watching my channel! Yes, I have used clover as a ground cover as well. I haven't used it in walkways but it's definitely a good option. I might get a lower growing variety like microclover for the walkways though, to help with management and just so it grows lower for the pathways. Hope that helps!
Be careful with asters. We have been battling some for years that has taken over the lawn and everywhere else. When you mow it, the stems turn into jagged little knives and make barefoot walking out of the question. The kids don’t want to play on the lawns anymore either. The kind we have spreads prolifically by both seed and rhizomes and will choke out nearly every other crop, including grass. It has small, pale blue daisy-like flowers that turn into a hundred tiny fluffy seed heads.
Asters are edible, too. I’ve read of eating the leaves as a salad green. Asters are a very important native host plant for pollinators after goldenrods. May I recommend more native ground covers? Strawberries/fragaria, barren strawberry/Wadsteinia, pussy toes/antennaria, violets (edible, medicinal) - all host plants for native pollinators, at least in the NE.
I didn't realize that asters were edible, thanks for the tip! And yes, agreed that native groundcovers are great as well. Rest assured, my whole 2500 square foot front lawn is planted in mostly natives. Pussy toes is one of my groundcovers there. And love the idea of violets! Strawberries have been less effective for me as a groundcover as the grass seems to compete with them. I've been wanting to do some videos on my front lawn native medicinal pollinator garden but haven't gotten around to it. Stay tuned and thanks for watching and your contributions!
@@BrokenGround cool I’m envious and looking forward to seeing your wild lawn! I have a very small garden and it’s a wild Native pollinator garden within which I try to squeeze in some food for myself. Auspiciously, many delicious berry shrubs ate both native and absolutely adored by bumble bees like ribes/currants, gooseberries, aronia, raspberries, strawberries, etc. I basically eat the weeds 😁 I had to be reminded of violets myself from an herbalist out in Oregon called She_is_of_the_woods, April’s yt channel where she describes very thoroughly how powerfully healing all of our tenaciously growing plants are. Like the mucilaginous quality of violet leaves heals stomach linings and soothes internal membranes. I found your channel by searching for “cold climate permaculture food forest native plants” - it’s challenging to find that gestalt! It tends to be compartmentalized into farming human food vs native gardens and so many gardeners on yt are in the south. Glad to have found you and happy August!
@@olgakuchukov6981 I'll check out April's channel, thanks for the recommendation! Yes, I agree that the farming and food growing does tend to be separate from the native growing. It's unfortunate. IF I had to do it over again, I would add more natives to my food forest. But at least I have the front. I planted golden currants in my front lawn and they are doing super well, in addition to buffaloberry, lilacs, chokecherries, sages and many more medicinal native plants. Stay tuned for the video. It might be a bit since it's now pretty late in the season but we'll see. Thanks for your interest! Happy August to you too!
If you enjoyed this video and you'd like to see more of Kareen's cold climate food forest, check out her full tour! » ua-cam.com/video/T4gSnSlKGZI/v-deo.html
1- mint
2- lamb's ear
3- aster
4- oregano
Agreed on the mint. Easy spreader for sure. Oh yeah, oregano. Good choice. Well they all are so. Happy weekend. ☀️
Thanks a lot for sharing that! I'm so excited to start my food forest next year.
Happy growing Kareen!
Yay! I'm excited for you!
Appreciated the tips, suggestions, and advice.
Thanks for watching and glad it was useful for you!
Thank you! Those are great recommendations! Strawberries and creeping thyme are not bad too as ground cover. I don't fight much grass but a lot of sheep's sorrel that have about the same growing pattern as grass. Have a great end of summer!
Thanks for watching! Creeping thyme is also great, I agree. However, I've found the grass gets into my strawberries, unfortunately, so haven't found it to be an effective groundcover in my situation.
thanks i will go for the mint in my garden :)
Sounds good. Don't put it in your annual garden but in a food forest, it works great! Good luck!
Thank you for these suggestions. I've been researching which plants to use in my gardens/food forest and will definitely give lambs ear and oregano a try.
Wonderful! thanks for watching!
Thanks 😊
You're welcome! Thanks for watching the video!
I've found my most effective way to rid an area of grass is to light deprive it first, with cardboard and a thick layer of leaves, or a heavy tarp, or any other light depriving cover. Then wait a whole season. Voila. Easy Peasy. Just time. It does kill also, anything else growing with the grass, but SO much easier than other, digging methods. Much of my garden has been carved out of "lawn", and when it encroaches again, I use the tarps or deep leaf cover to reclaim and "clean" areas.
Yes, this is a great approach and that's what I used to establish my food forest. I sheet mulched the whole area with cardboard and layers and layers of straw, leaves and wood chip. However, I've found that over the years, the grass starts to creep back in.
Great Information! Oregano is in the mint family as is marjoram, etc. There are many wild mint family members worth considering, Coyote Mint for example. They all have, if not edible, then herbal or at least odorous uses. Also consider artemisia.
Yes, wild mint is definitely a great idea. I have artemesia in my front yard native pollinator garden and agreed, that's a great groundcover too!
clover and dandelion are also good spreaders and both can be eaten, thyme and strawberries, chives both garlic and onion
as well
Yes, great ideas!
Amazing!
Thanks for watching!
How do you handle the dying off of the lamb's ear? I love the texture it adds to soften things up and the pollinator attraction factor. When it dies off it creates a mess. Good for composting, yes, but, unsightly as anything. When is the best time to trim it back without killing it so the gooey mess doesn't spoil the asthetics? Thank you!
Also, a big plus for the mint is it is a natural pest control for unwanteds such as spiders. Planting it around or near the foundation of structures to keep the nasty bugs out.
I just trim it and clean it up in the spring. Though my tolerance for messiness might be higher than yours ;-). But that's typically my approach is to leave everything up over the winter for habitat and then clean things up come spring.
I love your channel. Have you used clover as a ground cover? I want to use it in walk ways, but not sure. I'm in zone 3b in northern Minnesota.
Thanks for watching my channel! Yes, I have used clover as a ground cover as well. I haven't used it in walkways but it's definitely a good option. I might get a lower growing variety like microclover for the walkways though, to help with management and just so it grows lower for the pathways. Hope that helps!
What species of asters work best for ground cover? The asters in my garden grow tall and don’t seem to fill in well
Either arctic aster or smooth blue aster will work!
Be careful with asters. We have been battling some for years that has taken over the lawn and everywhere else. When you mow it, the stems turn into jagged little knives and make barefoot walking out of the question. The kids don’t want to play on the lawns anymore either. The kind we have spreads prolifically by both seed and rhizomes and will choke out nearly every other crop, including grass. It has small, pale blue daisy-like flowers that turn into a hundred tiny fluffy seed heads.
Asters are edible, too. I’ve read of eating the leaves as a salad green. Asters are a very important native host plant for pollinators after goldenrods. May I recommend more native ground covers? Strawberries/fragaria, barren strawberry/Wadsteinia, pussy toes/antennaria, violets (edible, medicinal) - all host plants for native pollinators, at least in the NE.
I didn't realize that asters were edible, thanks for the tip! And yes, agreed that native groundcovers are great as well. Rest assured, my whole 2500 square foot front lawn is planted in mostly natives. Pussy toes is one of my groundcovers there. And love the idea of violets! Strawberries have been less effective for me as a groundcover as the grass seems to compete with them. I've been wanting to do some videos on my front lawn native medicinal pollinator garden but haven't gotten around to it. Stay tuned and thanks for watching and your contributions!
@@BrokenGround cool I’m envious and looking forward to seeing your wild lawn! I have a very small garden and it’s a wild Native pollinator garden within which I try to squeeze in some food for myself. Auspiciously, many delicious berry shrubs ate both native and absolutely adored by bumble bees like ribes/currants, gooseberries, aronia, raspberries, strawberries, etc. I basically eat the weeds 😁 I had to be reminded of violets myself from an herbalist out in Oregon called She_is_of_the_woods, April’s yt channel where she describes very thoroughly how powerfully healing all of our tenaciously growing plants are. Like the mucilaginous quality of violet leaves heals stomach linings and soothes internal membranes. I found your channel by searching for “cold climate permaculture food forest native plants” - it’s challenging to find that gestalt! It tends to be compartmentalized into farming human food vs native gardens and so many gardeners on yt are in the south. Glad to have found you and happy August!
@@BrokenGround I would enjoy a front lawn video.
@@JB-yg3ew Will do! It might be a little bit but it's definitely on my list!
@@olgakuchukov6981 I'll check out April's channel, thanks for the recommendation! Yes, I agree that the farming and food growing does tend to be separate from the native growing. It's unfortunate. IF I had to do it over again, I would add more natives to my food forest. But at least I have the front. I planted golden currants in my front lawn and they are doing super well, in addition to buffaloberry, lilacs, chokecherries, sages and many more medicinal native plants. Stay tuned for the video. It might be a bit since it's now pretty late in the season but we'll see. Thanks for your interest! Happy August to you too!