Moss

[Sara B]

I have moss growing in my flowerbeds. It is the flat kind -- sort of like low-pile carpet. My flowerbeds are mostly shaded, so I suppose that is part of it. What can I do to stop it? Thanks.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Sara, you've come to the wrong guy. I don't stop moss, in fact I encourage it in my garden. Moss is nature's way of starting the soil building process and gives the shade garden that woodsy look that I like. It doesn't compete for food with the other plants and gives that green carpet look once it gets going; I transplant bits and pieces of moss I gather from my travels in my garden to remind me of trips; sort of living momentos. My favorite garden in Japan is the Saiho-ji, which the Japanese call the Kokedera, or Moss Temple, and one of my favorite gardening books is George Schenk's Moss Gardening. SO asking me how to get rid of moss is kind of like asking Jesse James to hold your wallet

If you're really interested in ditching the moss, try liming, being sure to check how those garden plants are going to react to baser soils. BUT, try letting a section go mossy on you, maybe add a few different species. On a cold winter day when the snow blows away and suddenly you are looking at a patch of emerald green, maybe you'll thank me...

Scott

[Sara B]

Well, "Jessie", you may be right. I like moss in some places - rocks, between sidewalk cracks, flower pots, logs!! But I'll have to think about it in my flower beds. I'll give one area a try. I do like those mosses that are more like a shag carpet.Thanks

[The Helpful Gardener]

Those little pine trees that make up your "shag carpet" are Polytrichum communis, one of my favorite mosses. If you water, it will come...

"Jesse"

[Sara B]

I have some of that on a bank I am preparing for shrubs. Can I transfer it to a section of my flower beds or to a lower part of the bank where I plan to put groundcover? Thanks

[The Helpful Gardener]

Yep, just keep it watered until it establishes...