I'm pretty much a beginner, south-central PA, zone 6/7.

I've got a hill that's a bear to mow, so we're working on bringing
ground cover in on it. Three zones: ivy, lamium, vinca.

My first (middle) area was for the lamium, kindly donated by a friend
of the family. I used roundup on the area, which is ~ 20' x 20', and
planted a hundred or so vinca plants.

Well, I've had a major-league crabgrass explosion, and it looks
terrible, not to mention the fact that the lamium is now competing. I
wanted to save myself some work, and now I'm killing myself weeding.

So, that being said, what to do?

I've thought about mulching with newspaper & grass clippings, or maybe
just the clippings alone, but my mother says that the lamium needs to
arch over and hit real dirt in order to spread.

Asking for second opinions on how to manage this mess till it grows in
some more.

'Been lurking for a while, thanks for lots of good reading & advice.


--
JackStraw
0x3D561045

In my experience, lamium will not out-compete weeds and other groundcovers
very well. It's pretty, and it will spread, but it's not tall or thick or
vigorous to keep other plants out completely.

I've have several patches that I've hand weeded the first few years while
they are getting established. I also mulch with a finely cut, high quality
*bark* (NOT chipped wood) mulch. The lamium will root down into the bark
mulch. Now that it's established, and the original weeds are gone, it just
takes a light weeding to catch any seed borne weeds each spring.

I think it also depends on the variety of lamium. I've got a few of the
more delicate, pretty hybrid ones, but I think there's some more robust ones
available.

Cheers,
Sue

Zone 6, Southcentral PA


"Jack Straw" jackstraw@witchita wrote in message
...
I'm pretty much a beginner, south-central PA, zone 6/7.

I've got a hill that's a bear to mow, so we're working on bringing
ground cover in on it. Three zones: ivy, lamium, vinca.

My first (middle) area was for the lamium, kindly donated by a friend
of the family. I used roundup on the area, which is ~ 20' x 20', and
planted a hundred or so vinca plants.

Well, I've had a major-league crabgrass explosion, and it looks
terrible, not to mention the fact that the lamium is now competing. I
wanted to save myself some work, and now I'm killing myself weeding.

So, that being said, what to do?

I've thought about mulching with newspaper & grass clippings, or maybe
just the clippings alone, but my mother says that the lamium needs to
arch over and hit real dirt in order to spread.

Asking for second opinions on how to manage this mess till it grows in
some more.

'Been lurking for a while, thanks for lots of good reading & advice.


--
JackStraw
0x3D561045