Sam Gray

Malvaceaes - Althaea officinalis, Malva alcea, Malva verticillata, Abelmoschus manihot

Erika House wrote:Alfalfa.  It's pretty fast growing, grows in clumps but can also get stalks of several feet long if left to its own devices, and as a bonus is also a favorite with ladybugs!

Is alfalfa perennial?

Canna is interesting. The beds are actually in ground beds not raised.

Today I've been thinking about:

Big clumping grasses like Calamagrostis acutiflora and Celtica gigantea

coppicing hardy banana trees like Musa velutina or Musa basjoo

Big Apiaceaes like Lovage, Fennel, Angelica, Water parsnip, and Sochan

Salvia/russian sage

Goldenrod

Anyone have experience with growing those for mulch?

Will Whitt wrote:Sam,

I may be a bit biased, but I think some Russian Comfrey would be perfect. It's seeds are sterile, but will very easily propagate through root cuttings; you cannot dig it up once it is planted unless you want it to spread. That said, you can very quickly expand your comfrey; I originally bought five plants and within 5 years, have well over 50 plants and have sold probably 100+ and haven't been very aggressive on taking root cuttings!

The beautiful thing with comfrey is you can chop and drop 5+ times a season (at least here in zone 7 VA), its got great medicinal value, its a great weed/grass barrier, and bees LOVE the flowers.

I have comfrey in a lot of my zone 2 garden, but I'm hesitant to plant it here, because the soil is disturbed frequently and I'd be worried about it spreading through the beds via root division.

Hi,

I have some vegetable beds in zone 1 of my garden. Some are annual beds, some perennial vegis. Once or twice a year, I find myself wanting to mulch them. Sometimes I have leaves on hand, sometimes I don't and buy straw.

I'd like to plant a perennial on the end of each bed that grows a significant amount of mulch matter that I can chop and drop on the beds. It needs to be something that will stay put and not spread through the beds. Preferably not too woody. Thoughts?

Maritime PNW, zone 8b

-sam