Originally Posted by beam2050

i realize most of you have your plants near a fence or off to the side somewhere. but i have all my plants where i have to mow around them, pretty much all over the yard. with almost a hundred mats i have found some problems with compost especially when i use a lot of leaves. so this year i am doing something a bit different and it seems to be working so far.

first the problems.

problem 1.
if i use a lot of leaves and heavy grass clippings, light rains don't make it to the roots. and my irrigation system is somewhat ineffectual.

problem 2.
my lawn mower blows of the compost around many of them, which leaves the ground bare and blows off my fertilizer. so then the ground dries out to fast. this problem happens usually with mats of one or two plants, such as new mats or bananas that don't pup much.

my solution this year is SPANISH MOSS. and i realize only a few of us have access to this. but there are probably a lot of alternatives, such as small long sticks.

spanish moss is heavy but lets water go by and my lawn mower cant blow it off. also when i mow the spanish moss catches the real fine cut leaves and grass as i go by. it also flattens out and when i pick it up after falling from the trees the grass is usually wet when everything else is dry.