spaced, please let me know! I'm in Boston, zone 6a (I think) and the area
is on the southeast side of the house so should get a fair bit of sun.

One of my standard cheap sun annual groundcovers is sweet alyssum, from seed.
In the long term, I like mixtures of perennials, with annual fill-ins,
and groundcovers like candytuft, creeping phlox, but away from building
foundations, not plastered right up on the sides.

Remember to keep wood mulches well away from wood siding and such
in termite and carpenter ant country.
http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entom...ruct/ef605.htm

Kay