Peter Daub

lol, I saw after posting how old it was.  It was linked in the dailish email - so there is the excuse

That is a beautiful walkway!! Well done.

A plant I've really grown to enjoy is Emerald Carpet Raspberry.  It will stay low to the ground but forms a pretty thick cover so there are not a lot of weed issues.  You would need to edge your walkway once a year though.  It's evergreen, occasionally produces berries, doesn't mind being stepped on, and handles shade well.  It re-roots as it grows so if you buy a few plants, they are pretty effortless to propagate once they get going.  I've planted it under some of my fruit trees and it's been the best ground cover I've worked with.  The root system is not very aggressive or deep.  Given my experience, I'm surprised I don't see it referenced more often.  

I have several areas under trees - part sun - that I would prefer not weeding.  I am experimenting with ground covers as a way to suppress weeds.  They are surrounded by grass so I can mow around them and not be concerned about very vigorous ground covers spreading where I don't want them.  I expect to pull out some poplar/maple/locust sprouts every year but other than that are there ground covers that will totally take over and suppress almost all other weeds?

Experimenting with hostas, sort tooth mountain mint and Lilly of the valley.  Was thinking of trying hidcote comfrey.  But I know it will take a couple years for them to get established and know how well they are doing.

Anyone have something they use that really works?  

Hi all, I'm several years into deep mulching some gardens - 12 inches deep.  Here is what I wished I knew years ago, since I failed at many things to learn this:
First year - don't even try smaller annuals.  Go with
1.) potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Using a pitchfork, plunge it into the woodchips - pry it back and slip a potato in between the ground and the woodchips.  The sweet potatoes did especially well.
2.) Bush beans.  Just plant them an inch deep into the woodchips.  For me, they grew right down through all the wood chips and we had a great harvest.
3.) Big vigorous plants like squash and watermelon.  Instead of making a row, just dig out a small circle.  In some cases, I put a paper cup with the bottom torn out around the seed so when a dog/cat/kid kicked the woodchips back in the hole the little seedling was protected.
4.) Add some nitrogen fertilizer.  Some people say there is no problem with the woodchips stealing the nitrogen, but I'm not so sure - at least in the very top layer of soil.  After the first year, this wasn't necessary though.
5.) Areas where I added Garden Giant mushroom spawn, the woodchips decomposed literally twice as fast - and I got mushrooms!

Second year - it's easier so basically the same as above but mixing in some smaller annuals.
Third year - I was raking back the top layer of woodchips and planing lettuce, kale, cilantro and anything else I wanted.
Fourth year - I'll be adding a 2 inch layer of winter woodchips this year.  Now I don't want them to break down - because I want them to suppress weeds and weeds are growing in the compost that was once woodchips.  I'm guessing a top layer of very little leaves - just the wood part of the chips will take care of this.

As far as the thistle - it keeps coming back because of it's strong root system, often with horizontal runners connecting multiple plants.  From what I can see, if it's already in the ground it loves the woodchips.  We let ours grow to 2-3 inches high and pulled it.  After about 3-4 pulls, it quit and hasn't come back since.

Lori,

One other option is a health care share.  It was one of the few things that was given exemption from the ACA.  I have full health insurance through a national provider. Since I have 4 kids, it seems less risky to me but one of my best friends does a health share and they've had a great experience.  The cost is drastically less.  If you're looking at taking the ACA penalty, this would be a much better option.  You would have health protection, even if it's not standard insurance.  You no longer get the deep discount from doctor's offices for having insurance but my friend has found all his doctors will use different codes when they know you have a health share and that evens out the pricing.

From a philosophical point of view, it's also a cool idea: groups of people sharing medical cost without big insurance industry being in the picture.  These programs were given an ACA exemption based on a religious constitutional basis so you will find all of the are Christian or another faith based program.  Unfortunately, I'm not speaking from experience here - I wonder if anyone else is a part of one and give their experience??

My insurance program went up $400 a month last year.  If that keeps happening, we may be forced to go this route as well.

Hi Tim,

You may want to take a look at the English Shepherd

We don't have bears or lions but we do have foxes, deer, rabbits, racoons, and the occasional coyote.  We have a similar problem though because we own 10 acres in the middle of a neighborhood.  Our dog will only bark when needed.  He'll bark a few times when chasing something off but then stops pretty quickly.

Smartest dog I've ever seen.  I taught mine how to chase off crows so they don't eat my berries.  I just ran after them a couple times and he picked it right up.  He's fearless, doesn't run off, barks only when needed.  It's pretty much the perfect farm dog.  They are not as big as many LGDs which could be better against the bigger predators but they'll chase off everything that doesn't want to fight.  We leave ours outside in the growing season but bring him in through the winter.  He's part working dog, part family dog and plays very well with the kids.