Thanks for the replies. The orchard is roughly 85' by 60'. And it's fenced. Too small for the tractor to manuever easily (I'd get hives watching my husband trying to turn around without running over my Red Sheepnose apple) but it's bigger than I'd want to mow by hand. It would take too many woodchips to cover. The trees are mostly apple, peaches, plums, and pears. All are on semidwarf rootstocks. I've solved the deer problem so I'm not adverse to putting in clover. Or even garden crops for the first few years. I didn't think of that, but I like it. It's pretty much weed free right now so it's a blank slate that I don't want to mess up. I would love to grow alfalfa for my milk cows but I don't think it grows well here. Maybe cowpeas or some kind of legume? Or maybe some kind of mix like clover and oats? Then I could scythe it and feed it to the cows. (that sounds really cool but to be honest I'm not real sure what scything involves.) Gosh, I thought everybody would have the perfect answer. Like "The National Association Of Obsessive Home Orchardists has mandated a ground cover consisting of 40% legume, 20% potash, and 30% comfrey. Seeded at a rate not to exceed 30lbs of biomass per square foot." or something like that. :)

Rick, I understand completely where you are coming from. I have very large gardens and spent a couple years mulching it all. Now they all need it again and I'm wondering if I will move forward with all that mulch again. First, have you checked the following places for cheaper mulch, the city, any of the tree removing companies? I have a tree removing company that will come out and dump one of their large trucks of mulch for $42. You are right, it does not go far. I did what you've come to the conclusion of. I worked one bed at a time, mulched it, planted it up and then moved on to another bed. I think that is a terrific plan, if it were me, I would not waste the amount of time it is going to take you to place ground covers in all your beds, it is GOING to be more work. They do still get weeds under the plants and especially because it takes 4 or 5 years to get any real growth on them. Regarding your method of digging in your grass. I'm a little worried about that because you don't want grass to grow up through your conifers. Grass roots are pretty aggressive. I have clay soil too, when I started I hoed my gardens and seriously broke hoes from the cement the rain created (this was before I learned about mulch). Here is a cheap suggestion for you. It may not look as nice but it was very cost effective for me and a great way to get started when I was still spending TONS of money on plants to fill in my large gardens...Take your grass clippings and use them as mulch. Put it on real thick and that will also mat down during rains and assist in weed control AND most importantly it provides wonderful tilth to your clay soil. Also, during the Fall, I collected tons and tons of leaves and placed a thick layer of them on my gardens too. I don't know about your area, but in town they people will rake or mow and place their bags of leaves and grass the curb, I would come buy (in the cover of darkness because I was a chicken) with a pickup and trailer fill it up and spread it on my gardens. People would tell me if they used weed killer it would kill my plants, I never lost one plant. Also, they say you should chop the leaves up but I did not do that it worked so well for me. Once you are no longer buying the number of plants you are now starting out, then you can concentrate on purchasing wood chips and come back around and place wood chips over your grass/leaves. I think you are doing an awesome job making sure you know where all your beds will be, how they will meander around your yard. If I were you, I would just keep mowing the beds as you currently are until you get one bed at a time done and start using the free mulch you already have on your property :). I think you are going to have one beautiful yard once everything grows. Keep moving along, I love how you are so forward thinking and asking those questions up front. I wish I had done that as I would have eliminated a LOT of mistakes. Good luck.

the 'fairy' rose blooms for a great part of the year. It seems to spread nicely; as every cane which touches the ground roots at the ground contact point. Once that new rooting establishes nicely, and if one snips the cane-runner between the now double rooted area; one instantly doubles the number of plants. I have one of these rose plants that has been sitting in a black pot along the east foundation of my home. The thing stayed green and continually bloomed all spring, summer, and fall. It even stayed green and rebloomed after several light freezes. Finally in late winter when the temps down to 24F. degrees the rose dropped it leaves. Just prior to that happening, it was still blooming nicely. Our winter was unseasonably warmer than usual and so the leafbuds again emerged by late winter. Even though our first week of spring temps have been well below normal: down to the mid 20s at night; even though only 2 days ago we had a 3 inch accumulation of snow which covered that potted rose; even though the temperature rose quickly by that same afternoon to melt the snow and thaw the rose; even though during the following night time the temps again dropped into the mid 20s and low 30s, that rose still is now filled out with green baby leaves. What an amazingly resiliant rose. I also have three of these roses I planted last spring in the banks of a ditch. This ditch is on a lot which I only monitor about once a month or less. There is no piped-in water I can access on that property, so the things I plant there are limited to the rain which falls from the sky and occasional, early morning or evening dew. Last summer and winter this area encountered severe drought conditions. Yet those fairy roses I planted in that ditch bank are still surviving. I can confidently say, that with the way these plants have handled the harsh conditions, I feel confident that if I had access to watering them during their establishment period, they would colonize, stabalize, and completely cover both sides of that ditch's banking within the first two or three growing seasons. I have seen an example of one planted on a fairly high 6'x 6' wide mound. That 'Fairy' rose bush, in the second year had completely covered and stabilized the mound. The thing continually bloomed for three seasons of the year and could be sheared as easily as a shrub to keep the runners from stretching over and completely covering the adjacent walkway. But the very best is how the blooms drop their petals in a manner which avoids one having to deadhead the spent blooms. Only in the latter part of this year's winter, when my potted 'Fairy' rose was in full bloom and the night temps dropped to the low 20s, did it not drop its spent flowers. I do plan on pruning my potted 'Fairy' rose to remove the few branch parts that did not survive this last week's harsh conditons. It appears, that while doing that pruning, I will simply be able to pinch off any remaining dried flower petals. extreme heat and cold temps rapidly alternating are very hard on most vegatation, but it is my opion that the 'Fairy' rose is very well able to cope with those extremes and much more.

Thanks, dirty, I wasn’t sure which one it was. No thorns and very soft to walk on. It also grows in full sun and deep shade. ibarb, soft as cotton. You realize I never planted it, it was in a small flower bed by my front door. In 6 years, it has marched across my lawn. I let it spread. From a small plant, it’s almost covered my lawn which is very big. One word of caution. It is very aggressive. It spreads by runners which are thick and woody. A few friends and neighbors have taken pieces to start in their yards and it never took. I’ve tried to plant pieces in my back yard and it didn’t work. Not sure why, but I heard it should be bought as a plant and then put in the ground. So I’m going to try starting pieces in pots to put in my back yard. The photo above shows the original plant, which left unchecked would cover my front walkway. The entry is covered by my roof. There is no sun there. There’s a pic of the flower it gets if not mowed. The pink ball. Jane