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Plants for Difficult Places

Ground cover for under a porch.

19 years ago

Hi,

We have a 70x10 foot covered porch with spaces between the boards. It receives very little sun if any under the porch and stays a little damp mostly from when it rains. I would like a ground cover to put there. Any suggestions? Preferably some type of seed that can be dropped between the boards and it has to be dog safe. . (Our dog stays under the porch to get out of the mid-day sun and when it storms)

Janet

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Comments (12)

twtw
19 years ago
can you plant just teh sunny edge? the darkness behind won't show
janet_w
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi twtw,
The porch bottom is enclosed with lattice. You can see through the lattice and between the porch boards. It just looks ugly under there.
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Haha the rabbit and the plant definitely are lonely! I don’t have an eye for design and needed to plop that plant in somewhere because it was a transplant. I plan to move it this spring. I was thinking a bed too but am not sure if it will sink under the porch as well. Maybe some sort of barrier could be added or just lots of packed dirt. No standing water and the downspouts are good at directing it away to the side of the house. I try not to keep snow in that area but we do get a bit. The area to the side is slanted away from the house so snow melts down. Grass was just the initial make due design. The lawn boys cut it well ;) haha but I’m sure a bed there would be easier.
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hockeymom
19 years ago
I am not sure what would ever grow there! Could you possibly take off the lattice temporarily and put some interesting large rocks and stones under there?
yjtj
19 years ago
why not plant vines or climbing plants on the lattice so you cant see through. i did this with clematis.
brendan_of_bonsai
19 years ago
You could buy some flourescent lights and put them under there. Or simply wrap everything in green and make itso you cant see into the darkness. Finally you could stack some logs under there and get some fungus inoculated plugs to start some mushrooms going but they wouldnt really be a good ground cover especialy with a dog.
joepyeweed
19 years ago
it will be very hard to get something to grow there. we put gravel and sand and interesting rocks under our deck. whenever i find a large rock or interesing stone that i like, i throw them under there. its probably too late for you now . but its best to put fabric underneath to keep the rocks weed free.
rootdiggernc
19 years ago
How high off the ground is it? I've seen people plant stuff under a deck that's 2' or more, ferns, columbine, hosta, etc. I'd be concerned abt the dogs laying on them is the only problem. Maybe some kind of shade tolerant 'stepable' would work?

Here is a link that might be useful: Stepables
icenovm
19 years ago
I'm with YJTJ. I think growing a vine on the actual lattice is your best bet. I have ivy growing on my lattice and I have woven it through the lattice as it grew and it is beautiful.
Cin_dy
19 years ago
How about bark mulch?
leannepa
19 years ago
how about pacasandra (sp?)
diggingthedirt
19 years ago
If you're willing to water it to get it established, you could try corsican mint (I know, mint loves sun, but this one thrives in deep shade) It would not interfere wiht the existing air circulation, an very important consideration to avoid rotting out the porch, and would smell great when Rover stepped on it. He'd smell good too.

You could install plugs of it next to the lattice, don't kn ow about seeding it though.

Moss might work too, find a clump of it in deep shade in your yard and move a little to the porch, water, and see what happens.
downloader
19 years ago
how about laying down some astro turf

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