Tag: groundcover

  • Pumpkins as groundcover

    Pumpkins as groundcover

    Last week a young hemlock had to be taken down at the back of my garden, a victim of high summer temperatures with insufficient moisture. Yes, I’m the guilty party, and very sorry for my neglect of this tree’s simple need for regular irrigation. I’ll be over-compensating all season, delivering fertilizer, water, staking and providing every form of assistance required in this garden!

    'Gladiator' pumpkins. (Photo courtesy of stokeseeds.com)
    ‘Gladiator’ pumpkins. (Photo courtesy of stokeseeds.com)

    With the tree gone, there’s a wide space of rough ground with many substantial weed colonies. I see weeks of digging ahead, trying to get this under control. What to do? I could attempt to smother the weeds with dark plastic, but that would be quite unsightly in such a large area. I could douse the plants with a vinegar-based herbicide, but it would take multiple applications over the summer, and the garden would smell like salad dressing.

    I decided to postpone the substantial weed removal work until autumn, and look for a temporary “green” solution for the summer. That’s when I thought of pumpkins. Nothing grows faster than pumpkins, which send their vines out along the ground and produce lots of wide green leaves. I can dig two or three holes, dump a bag of composted manure in each, and set out pumpkin plants. When the taller weeds poke their heads up, I’ll just remove the tops (to prevent seeding) and worry about their roots in autumn. I hope I get some pumpkins, too!

    I was startled to discover the size of fruits and cost of some hybrid pumpkin seeds. Looking at a catalogue (stokeseeds.com), I was interested in ‘Full Moon’, an open-pollinated pumpkin, producing startling white fruits, each weighing 60 to 88 pounds (27 to 40 kg). A packet contains five seeds, costing $10! (Because ‘Full Moon’ is open pollinated, saved seeds will come true and be identical to the parent.) Well, it’s too big, anyway. I’ve settled on ‘Gladiator’, a classic dark orange pumpkin with sturdy stems, weighing 20 to 30 pounds (9 to 14 kg). I’m betting that if I get any fruits, they won’t reach full size in only a half day of sun. But then, you never can tell when a pumpkin planted in a hill of manure might get just enough of a power boost and conquer the earth.

     

    Other posts by Judith this week:

    Posts by Judith last week:

  • Great groundcover: ‘Claridge Druce’ cranesbill

    Great groundcover: ‘Claridge Druce’ cranesbill

     
    ‘Claridge Druce’ cranesbill as a groundcover. (Photo by Brendan Adam-Zwelling)

    When I clear crowded stems and foliage near the end of summer, spaces open up and present opportunities for moving groundcovers around. I have a collection of groundcover plants that reproduce easily and are handy for filling spaces at the end of the season. I’ll admit that some of my favourites like yellow fumewort (Corydalis lutea, Zone 4 ) and white fumewort (C. ochroleuca, Zone 5), run rampant through dry shade areas in the garden, but they’re shallow-rooted and easy to remove when they overstep their boundaries.

    Leader of the pack in sun or shade is groundcover cranesbill ‘Claridge Druce’ (Geranium x oxonianum ‘Claridge Druce’, 18 x 18 inches / 45 x 45 cm, Zone 4), with clear pink flowers and glossy leaves that sparkle in sunlight. ‘Claridge Druce’ forms a thick clump of foliage that remains attractive all season, with a bright flower display beginning in mid-June and lasting through July. The foliage looks good right into autumn, and if allowed to stand, it remains green under snow. (My resident rabbit has been seen digging it up for a mid-winter snack.)

    There are several well-known cultivars of G. x oxonianum, such as salmon-pink ‘Wargrave Pink’, white and pink-veined ‘Katherine Adele’ (with maroon-blotched leaves) and deep cerise pink ‘Phoebe Noble’—all hardy to Zone 4. They’re clump-forming groundcovers with sprays of cupped flowers for at least six weeks through summer. If cut back when finished blooming, a fresh clump of leaves grows (although I never need to do this, as the foliage has remained pristine). These oxonianum geraniums are reliable fillers between shrubs and among other perennials, with no pest problems.

    ‘Claridge Druce’ has found its way into my list of indispensable plants for its ability to make a reasonable number of seedlings, providing me with fresh plants to cover space where and when needed. The mother plant’s progeny don’t fall far from her skirts and can be left to thicken the patch until needed elsewhere. This is a most useful and charming plant, and I’ll always want it around.

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