OT ground cover for wet area

I am in Randolph County. Red clay and white flints !

Ford Man

I was going to finish grading my yard (all bare dirt now)last week but it hadn"t dried out. Now I will have to wait at least another week so I don"t sink in the mud !

Ford Man

I like the other guys suggestion of a weeping willow tree. We've got 2 of them in our yard, and 1 of them my mom planted when she was a kid by putting a fresh stick in the ground (yes, it really does work).... Now the thing is a good 2 ft. in diameter, and unless we trim it every year it's always sweeping the ground, including the farm driveway. In a ditch we had dug behind the barn a bunch of swamp willows came in naturally over the last couple years. Kinda like 'em too. Very tolerant of water...

Donovan from Wisconsin

Cliff (VA)

PS The leaves are real small and hard to rake. Don"t plant it somewhere where you will care that they are on the ground.

Otherwise look for a prairie grass that likes wet feet. Big bluestem is one but it grows tall. I had decent results in wet ground that drowned out corn and alfalfa with Climax Timothy.

Big bluestem likes being frozen before it sprouts, you can do that before planting by soaking the seed and then freezing in thee freezer for a few weeks. May have to hand seed it after that but it only needs enough cover to hide it from birds.

Gerald J.

Birdsfoot trefoil can be hard to get started but will withstand wet feet better than alfalfa or most clovers.

The highway mix here in Michigan has a blend of fescue, perenial rye, and some annual rye along with time-release nitrogen to make it green up. Crown and hairy vetch for hillsides (hairy grows quick but not real hardy here. Crown is opposite). Also seen people use winter wheat as a nurse crop (plant in spring, mow all sumer, frost will kill it).

Reed canary grass will make a mat that a cow can walk on in 3-4 years. Unfortunatley itlikes to plug ditches on the way by. But keep it mowed and the cattle will eat it, or let it go and the widfowl will move in.