Help me with my garden!!?

Just moved in here and have a small 3 tiered plastic shell pond surrounded by some pretty well established plants. (neat to see the different variety popping up) Here's my problem. It is wayyyy overgrown. There is some kind of short ornamental type grass that I'm guessing was at one time the border. Now it covers 1/3 of the garden. How do I cut that back? Also I think I want to mulch it so it looks nice and cuts back on the weeds but there are a bunch of the little hen and chicks as well as some kind of small vined creeping plant with really pretty light purple flowers and I really like them, is there a way to mulch so I don't kill them but get rid of the unwanted plants?

Help me with my garden!!?
As far as the border ornamental goes I suppose a lot of people would tell you to use Round-up on the plants you don't want but in my opinion it is cheaper and easier to simply dig them out. If you do you can transplant them elsewhere if you choose, or give them away, or compost or just toss them.


With the hens and chicks you will not want mulch too close to the crown or base of the plants unless you are using stones for mulch. You could consolidate them in one area to simplify, or just take the time to carefully hand mulch. It isn't like you have to do it every week and it will save you both water and weeding time, so I always think it's worth the effort. I don't know what the other groundcover is but it might be vinca or something similar. Often on those sorts of plants you'll be able to find the cetrral base of the plant from which the long growths spread. Frequently these long shoots will root along their stems but even when they do I have had good luck simply gently lifting and gathering them while I mulched around them and then laying them back out and watering them. Alternatively you can just dump the mulch over them and then go through gently lifting them a little and shaking them off. Most plants are pretty forgiving and much harder to kill than they look. For me both of these methods work best with a fine grained organic mulch such as cocoa bean hulls, which I will recommend to anyone, any chance I get. They are truly wonderful stuff.


I hope this helps you out a little. Enjoy your garden, it sounds very nice!
Reply:Ornamental grass, Mondo? http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/vi... very common and invasive border grass. Start digging and be prepared to battle it for a good while. Snakes love livinig in it - usually nonvenomous types, don't be scared.





Hens and Chicks - super easy to start new plants, just lay leaves or stems on damp soil. Suggest digging them up too, they'll survive quite a while with total neglect (put them in any container and spray with water occasionally.) They'll be out of the way while you do the rest of the area and can be put back when you're ready.





Vine with purple flower. vetch? http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/vi... Highly invasive, noxious weed. Will take over and smother your desireable plants. Murder!!!





Allow your shrubs to bloom, then prune back by 1/3.





After cleaning out your garden (pulling unwanted plants/weeds) lay down 7-9 layers of newspaper and mulch (1" deep is plenty.) I prefer cypress mulch.





Sounds lovely. Have fun