GROW A MOSS LAWN IN THE SHADE by Betty Mackey A Free E-Book
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Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade
In nature, moss, ferns, trees, and rocks combine harmoniously.
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Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade
Moss Shade, deep shade, surrounds my Pennsylvania house. It is pointless to battle this situation and try to grow a traditional sun-loving bluegrass lawn here under our old oak trees. So instead of fretting about wild moss invading the lawn grass, long ago I decided to remove the grass (I buzzed it all away with a weed whacker) and to enjoy and encourage the moss in all its natural glory. There's no mowing, no fertilizer, and no pesticide, simply a velvety blanket of soothing green which mostly made its own way into my once-patchy lawn. Pressed-on sheets of moss from a shady stone wall, well-watered, helped fill the gaps. Now well established, my moss lawn is beautiful, setting off a rock-rimmed shade garden. Pathlike, the moss can be walked on, but it is not the right surface for the wear and tear of ballgames or crowds. It reminds me of childhood days spent near a woodland stream, especially when I walk on it barefoot. Moss grows worldwide in many climates and most types prefer acidic soils. Perhaps the most famous moss gardens are the tranquil carpets under the trees of Japanese temple gardens in Kyoto. These ancient gardens are minimalist in nature, composed of well-placed stones, trees, and water. As the monks observed hundreds of years ago, the mosses which find their way into the gardens, unplanned, enhance the serenity of the sites and make themselves welcome.
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Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade
The carpet of moss at the Portland Japanese Garden. 4
Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade Here in the Delaware Valley and in other places with ample rainfall, we live where forests are the natural way of things, and mosses are, too. You can plant it, or you can let it find your site. You can even buy it from a few rare dealers in the moss business. Mosses sprout from ever-present spores which drift around on the wind or are carried by water until they settle on the right kind of place to anchor and grow. Most types thrive on acidic soil. Mosses also like damp rocks, tree roots, and fallen logs, in the company of ferns and other shade-loving plants. Some mosses prefer more sun or a different type of soil or rock than others. They need some amount of light and are killed by a solid layer of fallen leaves or other debris. They require moisture for circulation of nutrients and for fertilization which leads to viable spores. Yet mosses can safely go dormant for a few weeks during the dry days of summer, freshening up rapidly after a rain or a light misting with the hose.
Moss spores form in these small capsules.
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Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade
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Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade
This is not to say that moss gardens are carefree. In a landscape, moss is the bottom layer, growing below the grasses and non-woody plants, and below the shrubs, vines, and trees. All of these will crowd out or smother moss if given the opportunity, so it is your job to keep the “carpet� clean. This task can make you crazy because nothing is hidden in moss: every acorn, fallen leaf, cicada wing, maple seed, clover flower, and tuft of grass will show. The care of moss is quiet when done without gas or electric power. The main tasks are weeding, sweeping away fallen leaves and debris, and patching holes in the moss layer for a smooth, consistent look. My best tool for moss cleanup is a whisk broom, not too stiff, and a dustpan, plus my fingers for hand weeding. A blower works but is noisy. In a pinch I give the moss lawn a haircut with the weed whacker. It is not hard to patch moss because tufts, hummocks, or sheets of it can be lifted off a rock or the ground where it is growing in one place and moved to a new site. It needs only a minimum of soil, and can grow on bare rock. Moisten the moss and moisten the soil or rock where you want it to grow and press it down (green side up). Alternatively, make slurry of watery clay or mud for the mineral base, yogurt, beer, or vinegar for acidity, and tiny crumbs of moss as starters. Paint or pour it onto the flowerpot, rock, sculpture, or ground where moss is wanted. Keep it moist by spraying it with a little water twice a day for a week or two. 7
Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade Even moss is subject to pest damage. One spring I found bare patches and browned crumbs of moss scattered around. A rabbit jumped out from the garden down to the moss, grazing and chomping until its mouth could hold no more. It repeatedly returned to its hideaway before coming out for another mouthful. I caught the action on video! I never saw this happen again. Birds sometimes scratch or peck around in moss, going after little wormy critters which creep around under there. Weeds self sow into moss, but so do desirable shade plants such as ferns, foxglove, and columbine, which can be left to grow or be transplanted. Some gardeners are still anti-moss but pro-moss attitudes are gaining.There is serenity in looking at the small things of nature that you find when tending your moss and letting it grow. Sources and Resources Book: Moss Gardening, by George Schenk. 1997. Timber Press, Portland, OR Online: http://www.mossacres.com/ http://www.the-artistic-garden.com/how-to-grow-moss.html
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Grow a Moss Lawn in the Shade
Text and photos Š 2008, 2009 by Betty Mackey This ebook and many other books (paperback and hardcover) are available from:
B. B. Mackey Books, Publisher P. O. Box 475 Wayne, PA 19087 www.mackeybooks.com Betty Mackey is an independent publisher, photographer, writer, and lecturer. All rights reserved. All materials (book design, words, and photos) are copyrighted and may not be sold or used in any other form without permission from the publisher. This ebook may be freely copied and shared, but only in its entirety including the book order form pages, which must be included. By using or transmitting this ebook the user accepts all responsibility. Under no circumstances will the publisher be responsible for loss of data or any other damages, however caused.
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B. B. Mackey Books,
Publisher
P. O. Box 475 Wayne,
PA 19087
www.mackeybooks.com
"Something Special in Garden Books" B. B. Mackey Books is an independent publishing company founded and run by Betty Mackey, an award-winning garden writer and editor. Books may be ordered from any full service bookstore, from www.amazon.com, or by mail from the address above. Or use the website with PayPal shopping cart located at www.mackeybooks.com. $21.00. CREATING AND PLANTING GARDEN TROUGHS, by Joyce Fingerut and Rex Murfitt. Photos by Jane Grushow. Hardcover book, 7 x 10 inches. 180 pages. Index, resource list, bibliography. Winner, American Horticultural Society Book of the Year Award, 2000. The complete guide to making lighter-weight, weatherproof hypertufa garden troughs and planting them. Sup erb worldwide reviews. ISBN 1893443000. $22.50. CREATING AND PLANTING ALPINE GARDENS, by Rex Murfitt. Published 2005. Softcover book, 7 x 10 inches. Color and black and white photos, line drawings, 276 pages, index, resources, bibliography. This book is a highly praised guide to making gardens using alpine plants. Chapters include information on alpine gardening: building rock gardens; making raised beds; soil and topdressing, alpine plants in containers, rock gardens under glass, plant talk, and entries describing the most suitable alpine pla nts. Rex Mufitt (co-author of Creating and Planting Garden Troughs ) has been growing alpines and writing about them for years. Winner of the Garden Writers Association award for book writing in 2006. Having trained in England with masters of alpine gardening, he offers classic technique in a most enjoyable style. ISBN 1893443078 $19.95. FLORIDA GARDENING: The Newcomer’s Survival Manual, by Monica Moran Brandies. Softcover book. Help is here! Laugh off the garden perils and grow a wonderful new landscape in Florida, with Monica's famous help and experience. Here’s the inside information on lawns, flowers, veggies, fruits, terrace gardens, trees, and shrubs. Easy organic methods, fast results. 8.5 by 11, 136 packed pages. In its second edition. Index, resource list, and illustrations. ISBN 0961633832 $15.50. HERBS AND SPICES FOR FLORIDA GARDENS, by Monica Moran Brandies. If you live in Florida and you want to grow and use herbs, you probably know that you need special instructions for good results. And here they are, unmatched by any other book! Now you can grow herbs and spices (neem, ginger, cardomon and more) for flavor, health, beauty, crafts, scent, and garden color. Monica takes you to visit growers in Northern, Central, and Southern Florida. The plant encyclopedia with full growing instructions for the plants has been created to reflect the diff erences in these three distinct parts of the state. 1996, 250 pages, 6 x 9 inches, softcover book. Rave reviews! ISBN 096163 3867.
$15.95. A CUTTING GARDEN FOR FLORIDA, THIRD EDITION, by Betty Barr Mackey and Monica Moran Brandies. New edition of a well-loved book on growing marvelous flowers for bouquets in your Florida landscape. Harvest, condition, and arrange flowers, fresh or dry, like a pro. This book includes information on annuals, biennials, perennials, shrubs, trees, and bulbs, including plant-by-plant conditioning information and month-by-month calendar. 144 pages, paperbound, indexed, resource list, public garden directory. ISBN 0961633891. $9.95. GARDEN NOTES THIS YEAR. Designed by Betty Mackey with the lovely 'Sally Holmes' rose on the cover. The easy way to organize garden records. Each page prompts you to keep notes such as when seeds were planted or bloom time. You’ll soon have an overview of your garden's performance. Synchronize bloom periods. What a great gift for someone starting a garden. 112 pages. ISBN 9781893443136. $9.95. PLANT NOTES: The Plant Collector's Notebook. Designed by Betty Mackey with Brugmansia on the cover. Here's a perfect notebook for recording 125 plant purchases and their descriptions and outcomes. You make the index as you fill in the book. ISBN 9781893443143. $9.95. BLESS YOU FOR THE GIFTS, by Monica Moran Brandies. “Extraordinary tales that demonstrate the faith, humor, and wisdom of ordinary people,” (Midwest Book Review). This is a gem of Americana, featuring true stories of life in a large, rural family including schooldays, nuns, cows, babies, parents, and gardens. Delightful! Paperbound, 200 pages. ISBN 0961633 875. $15.95. ORGANIC GARDENING DOWN SOUTH, by Nellie Neal. 144 pages, 6.7 x 9.7 inches, illustrated and indexed. Do your gardening the organic way! The South has special factors that challenge gardeners and Nellie Neal has the answers.Your southern garden can be a healthy place where you enjoy nature and a ripe tomato. Use the power of organic gardening. Chapters cover soil strategies, plants and how to work with them, pests and organic controls, planning and planting, the South's garden calendar, and great garden plants. ISBN 9781893443105. $15.00. WHO DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? by Alex Pankhurst. When this book appeared in England, it was acclaimed in many reviews for its enchanting stories of the plants in our gardens and how they got their names. Personalities shine in this sensitively written account, and so does author Alex Pankhurst's wicked sense of humor. Declared an instant classic, it traces the background of over a hundred famous cultivars, telling the istories behind the plants, describing the people of many eras whose memories live on because of the names of the plants in our gardens. Many stellar reviews! 168 pages, 6 x 9, paperbound, North American edition, illustrated and indexed. ISBN 1-893443 086.
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_____ CREATING AND PLANTING GARDEN TROUGHS (Fingerut and Murfitt)
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_____ CREATING AND PLANTING ALPINE GARDENS(Murfitt)
22.50
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_____ A CUTTING GARDEN FOR FLORIDA, 3rd ED. (Mackey and Brandies)
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_____ GARDEN NOTES THIS YEAR (journal) (Mackey)
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HERBS AND SPICES FOR FLORIDA GARDENS(Brandies)
15.50
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FLORIDA GARDENING: NEWCOMER'S SURVIVALMANUAL 2ND ED (Brandies)
19.95
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9.95
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_____ BLESSYOU FOR THE GIFTS (memoir, Brandies)
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ORGANIC GARDENING DOWN SOUTH (Neal)
15.95
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PLANT NOTES (Mackey)
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WHO DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? (special price) Pankhurst
15.00
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