![]() Pin down the edges with 6-inch U-shaped anchoring pins purchased at a garden center or improvised from pieces of coat hanger. ![]() If you’re willing to wait all summer, you can smother or cook the existing vegetation by covering the area with heavy-duty black or clear plastic for a few months. If the lawn is in poor condition, proceed directly with the tiller or shovel. Then turn over the soil with a rototiller or by hand as you would for any herb garden. If the turf is in good condition, you may want to rent a sod cutter to strip off the sod and then use the sod to fill in thin spots in another part of the yard. If the site is currently part of your lawn, the lawn has to go. Omitting this essential step can lead to a planting that’s overrun with grass and weeds. When I develop a vision for landscaping an area, I want to get my hands on some plants immediately, but I’ve learned to restrain myself and deal first with site preparation. Many of these are not only problem solvers but beautiful plants in their own right. Many perennial herbs are among the hundreds of plants that can serve as ground covers. Ground covers may be used to carpet areas surrounding a formal garden cover steep banks that would require a lawn mower to defy the laws of gravity fill areas too shady, wet, or arid for other plants, or naturalize areas that would otherwise be difficult to maintain. Ground covers–relatively low-growing plants that are aggressive enough to eat up some territory and keep weeds at bay–can be the solution. ![]() A diversity of plant material and the visual interest of a well-designed herb garden or border are appealing, and a well-groomed lawn can be an impressive sight, but in some parts of the landscape, the high maintenance of these plantings is a drawback.
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