Mulch around your ground covers? (vines, weeds, leaf, planting)

[amberamour]

I asked this question in another thread but it hasn't been seen by anyone who can answer. Thought I'd post a new thread to see if I can get some accurate info.

I'm starting some vinca minor on a hill behind our house. It's a huge area and I am doing this in stages.

At present there is pine straw all around. When I am planting the vinca should I remove the mulch from the newly planted areas or leave it there?

My concern is that the plants won't make enough contact with soil which they need to spread. On the other hand, I also don't want to erode the soil too much by removing the mulch.

I'm at a loss!

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[shades_of_idaho]

This might not be the correct answer but it is how I always do it and I do do mulch. I totally agree on the erosion issue. If you find the plants need more soil contact when they get bigger next year or in a few months you can always pull a little mulch back around the vines. Maybe even push the longer vines into the ground about half way down the length to encourage root growth. I found the pine straw does help keep down weeds but it did NOT stop the hollyhock seeds from getting through it and planting themselves AND I had it on the hillside thick. About 6 inches deep. :P

[Stagemomma]

In your shoes I would consider mulching the vinca with something that degrades faster than pinestraw. Maybe leaf mulch, that would feed the vinca and eventually just get buried by it.

[Lost Roses]

I haven't used pinestraw but I've never found that any kind of mulch impedes seedlings sprouting up. Especially weeds!

[luv4horses]

Perhaps do a terrace-like effect? Remove horizontal bands of pinestraw and plant the vinca in these zones. Retain equal-sized bands of pinestraw with no vinca planted within. After the first year, once the vinca starts to establish, remove more pinestraw.

[Butterfly4u]

carolina,
Just leave the pine straw there. Water it as normal.
Pine straw is great because it allows water to penetrate as if it wasn't there.
It won't stop your trailing plants from spreading. They will spread right
under the pine straw.
I have a small portion of hill right under a pine tree, planting vinca and creeper
right on the hill, never removed the pine straw, ever. It's been there for years
with little maintance, and I just leave the pine straw fall on it every year. Never rake
it, and the plants are doing fine.
In my situation, I should water it more, but I don't. I literally just let it go.

[amberamour]

Thank you all! Happy to know I can leave the pine straw down and hopefully avoid erosion and weeds. I bought another 10 vinca and just have to find time to plant!