Admit it: luscious green grass in your yard has its benefits with your neighbors, but there is so much maintenance involved when keeping your grass looking great. Whether it is impossible to grow grass in your lawn or you want to save energy creating a beautiful garden, groundcover and perennial beds are a great way to bring new life to your home.
Low Maintenance:
The most obvious benefit to having groundcover and perennials is the incredibly low upkeep. Once a ground cover is made and fully established, you can sit back and relax knowing you will not have to manage it as often as grass. It can also fill in barren areas of your yard with ease.
Perennials do not require as much energy as annual plants; gardeners can stop clearing their areas for sowing, mulching, and composting. This is because the perennial grows crop from the same root. This provides you with a low-maintenance yield of crops each year.
Eco-friendly:
According to the Lawn Institute, there are more than 47 million acres of lawn in the United States. With so much grass, it requires a lot of constant water, pesticides, lawn mowers (gas!), and lawn herbicides.
Groundcover and perennials reduce all of these nearly zero (except for water of course). This improves the structure of your soil. More specifically, Perennials’ root systems spread through the soil, creating spaces for water to percolate and aeration of the soil. The advantage of this also benefits all plants and microorganism surrounding the area.
Weed Prevention:
Easily a favorite among many gardeners, ground covers reduce weeding. This is a fantastic benefit because gardeners are not forced to use pesticides in their gardens or yard. Shredded bark mulch is a great option weed prevention for gardeners going on a more natural route while also maintaining moisture. A variety of rocks can also be used, but they can reflect heat from the sun.
A variety of Plants:
Because annual plants bloom and mature typically in the summer, perennials are a better alternative for lots of people in different areas. Perennials have a larger variety and they bloom during different times of the year. With only minimal planning, you can guarantee a bountiful harvest all throughout the year, thus extending your production of your garden. Perennials also tend to last longer than annual plants and can endure extreme weather.
It’s important to remember that adding grass seeds or putting down sod are not the only options you have to optimize your garden. Maintaining a beautiful grassy yard requires a lot of effort some gardeners may not have. Groundcover and perennials are a lovely alternative and benefits the environment, your money, and time. There are countless options for adding variety to your space.