“The moss was here when we came,” said Joyce Bucher. Fifteen years ago, she bought her Brookhaven complete with a garden that has what she refers to as great bones. The former owners bequeathed her a list of everything they had planted, and Bucher was able to retain the services of their longtime gardener Sue Gray. But the moss she found in the garden wasn’t something she planned to keep.
“I spent years trying to kill it off,” she remembered. “I’d take it out and plant other things, but nothing ever survived and the moss kept coming back.”
Considering what to do about the erosion problem along a stone walk in the back garden, Bucher and Gray decided to try putting moss between the stones. “The moss did fabulous, and I started to have a new appreciation for it,” said Bucher.
As Bucher discovered, moss can be a desirable and low-maintenance alternative to grass lawns and conventional shade garden plants. In her garden, moss forms a carpet that leads her front door, lines a long dry steam bed on one side of the property and fills in gaps all through the back garden.
The moss makes such an inviting soft green blanket that Bucher often finds her two cats asleep on the lush patch outside her front door. “It’s so nice and cool, they just love it there,” she said.
Where to grow
Moss is one of nature’s most adaptable plants. It’s happiest in lightly shaded areas although some species will grow in extremely deep shade. In many Atlanta-area gardens, moss will tell you where it wants to grow by showing up on its own.
Hot afternoon sun will burn moss. The ideal location is lightly shaded all day, although morning sun is fine.
Moist, average soil, well-packed and slightly acidic is the perfect growing medium. If the space is too shady and too compacted for grass to grow, it’ll probably be a happy home for moss.
The acidic soil that moss prefers is the same soil that makes azaleas, camellias and hydrangeas happy. Gray uses Holly-tone ® , an organic fertilizer for these acid-loving plants, and the moss benefits from these feedings. She may lightly broadcast a little fertilizer on the moss, but generally relies on just the runoff from the feeding she’s giving those shrubs.
While moss prefers moisture, it will survive periods of drought once it’s well established and quickly revive when the rains return.
Planting
Bucher has what she refers to as a breeding patch, an area in the center of her back yard where the moss thrives. She and Gray transplant moss from that area into other places around the garden and the breeding patch fills in again each year.
Gray says harvesting moss is as simple as skimming off about a quarter inch of moss and soil. “Sometimes it comes in big pieces and sometimes in little, but they will all transplant easily,” she said.
Prepare the place where you’re moving to miss, making sure the soil is firmly packed. Then lay sections of moss and tamp them firmly into place. Make sure all parts of the moss make contact with the soil.
Keep transplanted moss watered for at least the first three weeks. Some patches may take a little longer than others, but once established, the moss is pretty carefree.
Care
“Except for watering the moss in the summer, we really don’t pay much attention to it,” said Bucher.
Gray does a little careful weeding in the moss patches. “The sunnier areas get more weeds, and of course the birds drop their share of weed seeds. And the rainier it is, the more weeds you may get,” said Gray.
She finds raking can damage the moss. Occasionally she or Bucher will sweep it, but she prefers to just use a blower to remove leaves and twigs.
“It’s really not rocket science,” said Gray. “Moss is easy to grow and perfect for organic gardeners.”
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