
Agriculture
How To Grow Ground Cover (Perennial Peanut Grass)
In most cases you will be planting your cuttings directly into the field where you want to establish peanut grass. This will usually be a clean and prepared space where you may be planting dozens of cuttings. There is little use to planting in pots unless you have limited access to cuttings and wish to start a donor plant.
- Prepare your planting area by removing weeds and any vegetation. The more thorough you do this the better chance your patch will establish without problems.
- With a small hand shovel or spade simply open up the soil to where you can place the cuttings. Four or five inches deep (10-12 cm) per cutting is sufficient.
- Space cuttings 6 to 10 inches (15-25 cm) apart. The closer together the faster your patch will establish.
- You can apply a fine mulch of well cut hay or sawdust to help retain moisture and reduce erosion.
- Make sure your plants do not dry out while establishing. Water if necessary.
- After about 2-4 months your patch should be well established.
Maintenance and Care
- Weeding – While Peanut Grass does a pretty good job at preventing the growth of weeds occasionally some may poke through. This is especially true as the patch is established.
- Watering – Peanut Grass will dry out during the dry season but will come back once the rains arrive. You can water to maintain the green-lush color.
- Cutting – Peanut Grass doesn’t require much cutting back. It grows pretty low to the ground and is marvelous at remaining tame. Over time certain varieties may get slightly bushy and they can be cut back with a weedwhacker or even mowed.
- Disease – Certainly Peanut Grass is susceptible to diseases or pests but this is rarely a problem. This species tends to be rather vigorous and weedy, so even large patches of this species rarely have even minor issues.
- Removal – It can be difficult to eradicate peanut grass once established. The easiest method for this is to remove as much of it as possible then cover with thick mulch. Replace with fast growing plants that can shade out and compete with the peanut grass.
0 Comments: