North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[T Phillips <canineaficionado@yahoo.com>]

My favorite plant for covering bare areas of any sort is vinca. It roots easily and I've had no trouble ripping it out if it gets too invasive. In my somewhat sheltered spots, it stays green even through the winter, and has flowers on it by April.

Tina - CO z-5A

---

From: Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 7:20:34 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] blueberrry cover crop?

We've got our blueberry bed all prepared with lots of peat, and will be putting in our blueberry plants soon. (I know, we should have prepared the bed a year in advance, then tested pH, but we're gambling that we got it right, so wish us luck.)

We'll soon have this vast expanse of acid soil, with a few little baby blueberry plants in it, and a whole lot of mulch, taking up a big area in the front yard. Is there anything we can do to make this look less stark until the blueberries grow to fill the space? Are there acid-loving cover crops? Flowers? The best I could think of was some sort of sprawling cucurbit or maybe trailing nasturtiums rambling in from the side where the soil is still only slightly acidic, but I'm open to other ideas.

Melissa