Cath, I grow clovers as a permanent mulch - I have to resow odd patches which get walked on a lot but in general, it stays in place around the fruit bushes. Other green manures (we also call them cover crops) I use are much shorter lived - tares and grazing rye are sown quite late in September and dug in the ground in early spring. Mustard is a really quick cover crop and I turn it in after 6 weeks. The main reason for using these cover crops is the silty sandy soil I garden on tends to leach out nutrients and also, as I grow many vegetables, the soil needs more frequent replenishment than when growing perennials or shrubs. For years, I relied on a good autumn topping of horse but the amylopyrolid/chlopyralid used in many broad leaved herbicides, persists, even after passing through the animal's digestive system. Horses which eat hay from fields where these herbicides are used have been unable to break down the hormones in these herbicides (unlike the old 2,4D for broad leaf weed killing). Consequently, crops sown in soil which has traces of chlopyralid grow with massive distortions, rendering them unusable. The effects persist over several years - only curcubits are relatively unaffected. Until recently, these herbicides were not available for the home gardening market but last year, they started creeping into domestic use - Verdone, for examnple, is now using chlopyralid as the active ingredient. What this means for us gardeners is that not only is horse manure compromised because of the hay they have been fed, the municipal green waste which many of us used as a soil conditioner, is also useless. Knowing the provenance of manure is essential (and unreliable since farmers are not always totally honest). I cannot make enough good compost to replenish the humus and keep the soil structure open and friable so using green manures, as well as leaving annual weeds either on top of the soil or turned under, is my main source of soil amendements (and also leaf mould but that takes ages). Is this an issue in the US? Are broad leaved herbicides using amylopyralid or chlopyralid or are they still based on hormones such as 2,4D - which basically makes plants such as dock, plantain, daisies and other lawn weeds, grow themselves to death.

Thanks Karin for the heads up that we were given the right information...to keep the rocks away from the plants base. And hanging head on the sand cherry we most likely killed...It was fairly large...my husband got a decent size root ball but I felt he could have taken more. We did NOT trim the plant back so the volume of the top matched the volume of the roots. Once moved I've given it miracle grow and watered deep...But again we had it smothered with rocks up high on it's main base. Would it pay to trim the shrub shorter to after planted to help counter that we hadn't done it before transplanting? Thanks on the kind words of the waterfall...I was really trying to go with the "natural" look...then that weeping maple suckered me into purchasing it. We vacation around waterfall trails and have for years. So when I suggested a water fountain feature in the backyard...my son who was 11yrs. old at the time commented he felt that a waterfall would be more appropriate. And that is how it all started. I originally wanted a horseshoe of rocks placed so that a larger rock/bolder could sit a top. And have the bolder drilled and water come down over it. Which sort of reminded me of a smaller version waterfall called "Ash Cave" down in Hocking Hills area of Ohio. But the kit we purchased was HUGE...and the man working the bobcat and my husband felt we were going to be wasting so much materials by making as such...and it went from there. I do love it and the sound it makes. It's built into a hill so I really don't have a "HUGE" pile of rocks coming up unnaturally from the ground to form it. Our neighbors who walk by complain because you can't really see it from the road...but only hear it. But to make it any other way would of made it look more unnatural. On the corner from us the previous owners made a rock garden of large rocks...so what rocks you do see from our backyard when not viewing the waterfall...looks natural to the area I think because of what the previous neighbors did. One neighbor came by and visited...and teased that HGTV called and wants their waterfall back. lol We also have a porch swing back there along with a few chairs on the back patio. And off the other patio where we have a picnic table you can view the waterfall as well. So it's ideally placed for our own enjoyment... No one can get over the size rocks used to make this waterfall. I think that alone helps make it look more natural than using just smaller ones that one can lift with their hands. Big project took most of the summer. But well worth it.

It's invasive here as well but I'd qualify that by saying if you love it, you'll be happy it spreads as quickly as it does. It's an attractive, zero-maintenance perennial that sustains pollinators so I'll admit I let it do its thing for the most part in my garden beds. Not even mulch spread over corrugated cardboard slows it down so I'm guessing unless I resort to chemicals (I wouldn't), it's here to stay since it spreads by runners. Do I wish they didn't spread by runners? Yup. Would I wish them gone? Nope. The bees, butterflies & hummingbirds need as much sustenance as my garden can give them each season. Oh yeah... word to the wise. I never planted ajuga in my cottage garden bed at the back of my garage but there's a HUGE patch of it growing where I never planted it. Be afraid... very afraid of it unless you really, really love it.

My favorite garden read's for today, Jennie and kneewalker. Stinging nettles are tasty and nutritious when young now. Did anyone see that movie 'Into The Wild' when the guy died from eating a poisonous plant in Alaska? Weeding is so time consuming, I've got shot weed ready to burst a hundred seeds per plant into the next year. I'm trying to get rid of more of my lawn because it is a half acre and takes long to mow. I don't like using glysophate in weedy flower beds now because birds are eating the weed seeds. Gotta mulch heavily with compost or bark and plant to smother weeds. Thanks for the inspiration you gals, gonna give my garden a workout, and hopefully lose a few pounds,too.