Re: Make your own moss
- Subject: Re: [SG] Make your own moss
- From: C* P*
- Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 20:53:27 EDT
In a message dated 4/26/01 9:16:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
ritaxis@CRUZIO.COM writes:
<< saw in another place (a home maintenance column?) a letter from
a man who
was desperate to kill the moss on his brick patio, and very
toxic, harsh
instructions for doing it -- I was amazed that anyone would
actually do that to
their yard, just to remove something so beautiful. >>
Hello Moss Growers,
With regard to the above paragraph, I would be interested in doing away with
moss.
Our NARGS chapter had a speaker recently on mosses. She was very well
prepared, brought samples, showed splendid pix. But - she had nothing in her
garden but mosses. She was a moss gardener, most gardeners want a few other
things.
Most of today's writers do not say what part of the country they describe.
It is really important to know where you are to give assistance. I live in
upstate NY. We have basically all acid soils. If you stood still in my
garden moss would grown on your nose and behind your ears. Probably on top
of your head as well. I pulled several bushels of the stuff out of the
borders today. I am not too fond of mosses for numerous reasons.
Healthy clumps of moss are the nursery beds for all kinds of seedlings,
mostly weeds. Mosses that are wet on stone walks are slippery and cause many
falls in the gardens. The mosses, several are rampant weeds, are hard to
eradicate. In the endless rains of last summer the mosses conducted an
invasion here. The mosses grow between stalks of many perennials overtaking
the area if not removed. Liming seems to be one answer but that may also
damage the various perennials.
There are many very tiny leaved perennials that will grow between flags,
slates of stones that do not migrate all over the gardens. I would prefer
the very smallest thymes. Many others can be found both for sun and shade,
some blooming as an additional asset. If your soils naturally host mosses,
they are everywhere including bark on the trees. They also grow on the roof
of the house making one more job to deal with each summer. I should choose
no moss if I had a choice.
Claire Peplowski
NYS z4
