![]() | |||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() | |
![]() |
![]() | ||
![]() |
![]() | ||
![]() | ![]() | ||
![]() | ![]() |
Written by Paul D. Race for Family Garden Trains(tm)
![]() |
Bare soil rarely stays bare long here in Ohio. So even if I didn't mind my trains running through dust or mud (depending on the weather), it wouldn't be long before they were running through dandelions and honeysuckle bushes. Not to mention that the track and equipment would require much more cleaning. So I have made several attempts to cover the dirt around my tracks and buildings, and hopefully learned a little in the process.
By definition, ground cover hides the soil. It also keeps a relatively low profile-a "ground cover" in landscaping seldom exceeds 18". In garden railroading, we try to keep our groundcovers much shorter, so they don't hide our buildings and people. And there are some great choices out there. Often visitors or new garden railroaders are struck with the attractiveness of the thymes, miniature sedums, and other plants surrounding the buildings and tracks of established railroads. What they don't factor in is that such plantings may have taken years to establish, and don't necessarily provide an immediate solution to all the ground cover needs of a young layout. On behalf of the beginner or for a new garden railroad, this article briefly reviews some approaches that won't break the bank and won't preclude you trying other approaches later on.
Technically speaking, ground covers include lawn grass, gravel, mulch, and a wide variety of plants. Any of these solutions is better than dirt (or dirt-and-weeds) for most purposes, but they meet different needs.
An ideal ground-cover for a garden railroad should have at least the following characteristics:
If you choose a living ground-cover, add the following characteristics to the above list:
No matter how attractive any kind of ground cover may be, nothing meets all of the above needs, especially when you're first starting out. But you have to do something. So let's take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of a few solutions.
Don't laugh. If you plan to have some distance of track running at ground level, designing that stretch so you can mow up against it (or even over it, if you're careful) can save you a lot of headaches while you're getting things established. Many notable garden railroads have grassy sections connecting the sections with all the scenery and fancy plants. Folks who use 20' diameter curves especially find lawn grass a reasonable alternative to landscaping or gardening all that right-of-way.
In its favor, if you choose a lawn grass that is suitable for your climate, you will find that you can easily maintain it with tools you already own, it is self-replenishing, and it reduces weed growth (not to mention that there are a host of lawn-care products available). Okay, maybe you eventually want to have something fancier, but if you are just starting out and can leave part of your lawn in, er, lawn, you may find this a viable solution, at least until you've got everything else under control. Obviously, though, lawn grass is not the best solution for small or raised segments.
I put these into one category because they have several similarities. For example, they both require you to haul them in, and they both do the best job of reducing weeds when you install them over good landscaping fabric. Unlike plants you have to nurture and wait to grow, gravel or mulch looks as good as it ever will the day you put it down. We have a saying in our house, though: "Mulch covers a multitude of sins." If you have a big stretch that you haven't gotten around to landscaping yet, a few cubic feet of mulch (maybe interrupted by a few inexpensive dwarf or low-lying conifers) will give an amazingly finished look to it in a matter of minutes. I like to choose mulch that is finely chopped so it doesn't look like piles of logs next to my equipment. Also, cedar or cypruss mulch tend to stick around longer and withstand wood-loving insects better than hardwood mulch. So consider cedar or cypress if you expect to leave the mulch down a little while or if you're working against your house's foundation.
Both gravel and mulch require replenishment eventually, because they discolor or work their way into the soil. Gravel is more expensive than the same volume of mulch, and it doesn't outright decompose, so I restrict its use to places I expect to keep in gravel for the foreseeable future or where it is a natural extension of the ballast and roadbed, say at a junction. Neither gravel or mulch will keep out weed growth indefinitely, even combined with landscape fabric sheeting. Sooner or later, the wind and rain will dump enough dirt on top of the plastic to give weed seeds a place to sprout. But weeds rooted in mulch are generally easier to pull. So on the whole, gravel and mulch are extremely low maintenance and easy to install in a hurry. In addition, mulch can be as temporary or as permanent as you need it to be.
A Personal Note - On the New Boston and Donnels Creek, I didn't use landscape fabric on the ground-level "north loop" because I had had such great luck with ground covers on the raised "south loop" that I figured I'd have a lush green carpet there in no time. Then we had two or three rainy springs in a row that drowned the thyme there, and the sedum wouldn't spread as fast as I was used to, but the thistles, dandelions, ragweed, goldenrod, and wild parsley loved it. The long and short of it was that a quarter of my garden railroad was taking more time to weed than the whole rest of it did. And the irony was that it was an area that was mostly obscured by an evergreen in front of the railroad anyway. So I decided to drop back and "punt," and put landscape fabric under a portion of my existing railroad, so maybe the next time I want to just step outside and run trains, I won't have to get out the dandelion puller and the Roundup first.
I have plenty of fine plants growing elsewhere, so I don't really need to have anything dramatic in this corner anyway. And the "landscaping fabric under mulch or gravel" approach saved me a lot of work around the swimming pool this year, so I'm confident it will work for me here, once I get time to get it all down, re-mulched, and re-ballasted. I've included this photo and this story just to show that I don't always get things right the first time or even the second or third time. Also to demonstrate why I now recommend to beginning garden railroaders that they put good garden fabric down first. It's easier to peel away a little at a time as the plants do take over than it is to put down around plants and track and things. In addition, don't bother with the landscaping fabric that's only guaranteed for a year or five, unless you want to do this all over again in a year or three.
Finally, this is a reminder not to panic if you try something and it doesn't work out, even if it worked out for you before. Your garden is alive, after all. The rest of this article deals with the living, breathing, groundcovers, and shows you some parts of my garden railroad that did work out.
Eventually most garden railroaders try to get some low-lying plants to represent grass and bushes around their tracks and buildings. Here is where the gardening part of garden railroading comes in, as well as a certain amount of frustration. Let's face it, plants are a whole lot less predictable than mulch or gravel. Keep your eyes open and a notebook handy when you visit garden railroads and garden centers in your area; ask a lot of questions. But don't spend a fortune on miniature plants before you've tried out a few different kinds and find out what works for you in your yard.
There are many choices available, but three basic kinds of living groundcovers that have worked best for me, and which are usually available at area nurseries are: thymes, sedums, and junipers. These also seem to work for most people in the Midwest and Northeast; however, they may not work as well in your soil or in your microclimate as they do for me. Think of the following plants as examples of the sort of things you might look for, and learn what garden railroaders in your area are using successfully. (If you are very polite, the property owners may even give you a start or two.)
ThymesOrdinary thyme (vulgaris) grows several inches tall and has leaves up to a half an inch, but many tiny varieties are now available. Several that are labeled "creeping" thyme get only two or three inches tall and have tiny leaves. Even more useful if you're trying to represent grassy strips, etc., are "woolly," "elfin," and a number of other varieties that seldom exceed an inch or two in height. The downside to thymes is that they can be slow to get established, and they occasionally die back for no apparent reason. Worse yet, the lower the profile, the "touchier" the thyme seems to be. So if you use thymes, experiment with a variety so you can swap things around if one planting "goes south."
| ![]() |
![]() | Sedums can be spread easily in the spring simply by breaking off a "branch," sticking it in good soil somewhere else and keeping it moist until you see some new growth or it rains a couple of times. One reason to get some of the sedums you want started early (perhaps even before you have a permanent railroad) is that an early $3 investment can save you a fortune when you need to "fill in" a new section of the railroad. For more information on the planting and propagation of sedums, please see my article Inexpensive and Low-Maintenance Plants for Garden Railroads. Both thymes and sedum will reduce the number of weed seeds that take root, but they will move cheerfully aside for bulb plants or other established perennials. Although their color and appearance suffer in the winter, they hang on enough to maintain an appearance of foliage and to hold the soil in place. They also regain their appearance quickly in early spring. |
Don't be frustrated if a groundcover don't exactly take off the first year, though. There's a saying among gardeners about perennials after transplanting: the first year they sleep, the second year they creep. But their roots are getting established the whole time and they will eventually spread out where you need them to as long as you keep them alive.
In addition, it's common for vining plants like ivy and pachysandra not to establish well until something else is holding the soil in place for them. So you can have a bank of pachysandra limping along for a year or five until something you like better takes root; then the pachysandra takes off, thank you very much. And such plants develop such incredible root systems that you can't pull them out without destroying almost everything else in the vicinity. So when Grandma offers you some Baltic Ivy just to "temporarily" fill in a gap in your greenery, learn to "Just say no."
There are no hard-and-fast rules. Just don't expect everything you try to work out just right, especially the first year or two you break soil or try a new variety. Take your time, try things out a little at a time to see what works for you, and avoid shortcuts you may regret later. Above all, remember that you're the person who eventually has to be satisfied with how all these things come together. Best of luck!
![]() | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Note: Family Garden Trains?, Garden Train Store?, Big Christmas Trains?, BIG Indoor Trains?, and BIG Train Store? are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications (www.btcomm.com). All information, data, text, and illustrations on this web site are Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically
forbidden.
Family Garden Trains is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
For more information, please contact us
![]() | ![]() |