This hardy ground-cover plant stops weeds in the garden

Robust ground-cover plants for the garden

Anyone who would rather spend their weekends on the terrace than hoeing a garden bed should take a closer look at this hardy ground-cover plant. It creates a thick green carpet, blocking out light and occupying space, which makes it exceptionally difficult for unwanted growth to germinate at all. Now is the perfect time to introduce it to the garden.

Living mulch instead of chemicals: why ground-cover plants stop weeds

Since synthetic weedkillers have been heavily restricted in private gardens, an old issue has become more apparent: bare soil invites everything you do not want in a garden bed. Seeds arrive on the wind, are spread by birds, or may have lain dormant in the soil for years, merely waiting for light.

“Keeping the soil permanently covered with plants simply deprives weeds of the essentials they need to survive – light, space and often water too.”

Gardening specialists refer to this as “living mulch”. Once they are established across an area, carefully selected ground-cover plants can reduce fresh growth of unwanted weeds by 70 to 90 percent. However, not every plant is equally suitable for this purpose.

What effective ground-cover plants need

The best choices are species that:

• produce dense foliage, ideally throughout the year,