Thoughts on planting on driveway cut?

[FarmerJamie]

I will post pictures later to help the discussion.
The driveway is cut down through the bank in front of the house. It's stable, not eroding, but the brown dirt needs some greenery.

I started this thread to tap into the hive mind for ideas on sprucing it up. If I was a younger man with my earlier strength and ambition, I would probably use railroad ties and put a terrace thing in. Now, I am looking for plantings that are low maintenance so I don't have to do my mountain goat impression to weed whack the slopes.

The ground is clay. In the past, I've planted in clay making holes, filling with good soil, then planting. Was only moderately successful as I just made plant water cup holes. Doh.
Any suggestions?

If it's dirt therapy does it still count against my to do list?

 

[FarmerJamie]

I have a contact at the County Soil and Water District HQ. Saw her this week for discussion about a project for the volunteer gig. She said if I sent her an email with my driveway situation, someone could assess and provide recommendations.

Stay tuned

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I have a contact at the County Soil and Water District HQ. Saw her this week for discussion about a project for the volunteer gig. She said if I sent her an email with my driveway situation, someone could assess and provide recommendations.

Cool! It's who you know, lol.

 

[flowerbug]

any of the creeping thymes. my favorite is a very low growing type which seems to do pretty well on clay slopes.

once you have a good start of it you can easily divide it into plugs and it will spread out. i cut mine into strips and move the entire strip as a mini terrace to hold back the slopes from eroding (and also to help soak in some of the water that the small ridge will hold back).

it grows low enough you can run a mower right over it. some of the taller varieties will survive mowing at a higher mower setting.

i do not mow the smaller kind i have growing here because most of it has very few weeds growing in it that i can remove them all by hand in a few minutes. the more complicated edges near the grassy areas it does take more work to weed them, but as i get those edges covered with thymes it still cuts down on how many weeds will sprout in there.

[i also meant to include the part about mowing can spread weed seeds into areas so that is another reason why i don't always want to mow something - at least first i make sure the mower is rinsed out underneath]

 

[FarmerJamie]

How silly would a patchwork of different options be? I am thinking of doing it in sections, maybe even some daffodils

 

[FarmerJamie]

Mint or catnip. They're perennial, and will spread. Can tolerate clay soil if it drains well. Both have potential homestead and income uses, such as selling "tea bouquets" or dehydrated catnip for pets.

Yeah, the three beasties here would love the catnip. Doesn't mint spread a lot?

 

[flowerbug]

It can spread like crazy. Mowing keeps it in check at my place.

mowing mint is like giving the lawnmower a breath mint. it sure smells nice (to me - Mom has reactions). all the mints in the grass now are from escaping various herb garden plantings that included mints. i've never really gone through much effort to remove them other than the ground ivy that tried to invade. right now though i have some henbit which wants to get going in a few places and i don't want yet another invasive weed so i'm going to keep hunting it down and removing it when i see it.

 

[Hinotori]

Catnip spreads by seed, not runners but still gets everywhere. It loves it here. I only bought one plant over a decade ago. It's not exactly biannual. Usually grows for 3 or 4 years before dying. It can get to 6 feet tall no matter what the packages say. It regularly does that to me. Ive been asked to sell it because I only dry the giant leaves unlike the store stuff that's mostly stem.

My clay layer is about 2 feet down so plants aren't directly in it.

Lavender is used a lot around here as a mulched ground cover.

 

[Gizelle]

I will post pictures later to help the discussion.
The driveway is cut down through the bank in front of the house. It's stable, not eroding, but the brown dirt needs some greenery.

I started this thread to tap into the hive mind for ideas on sprucing it up. If I was a younger man with my earlier strength and ambition, I would probably use railroad ties and put a terrace thing in. Now, I am looking for plantings that are low maintenance so I don't have to do my mountain goat impression to weed whack the slopes.

The ground is clay. In the past, I've planted in clay making holes, filling with good soil, then planting. Was only moderately successful as I just made plant water cup holes. Doh.
Any suggestions?

If it's dirt therapy does it still count against my to do list?

Fill every corner you find at your feet,
With something pretty and something to eat.

 

[tortoise]

Mint or catnip. They're perennial, and will spread. Can tolerate clay soil if it drains well. Both have potential homestead and income uses, such as selling "tea bouquets" or dehydrated catnip for pets.