Does anyone have experience with groundcovers? I'm looking for something that will spread between all my raised beds and around my trees. I'd love to never mow again.

1st time posting pictures here. I hope I did it right.

Weed block fabric and wood chips.

That is one pretty set up you've got there. Gabriel.   Here in the desert a lot of people put down weed block and gravel.

The roots of your trees can easily spread as much as 10-15 feet.  I just spread straw around everything after I dig away the gravel and weed block the prior owners put down.  The entire 1/4 acre lot was covered with that stuff. 

Straw holds in moisture and breaks down into compost.  A lot of people think it looks kinda ugly, but what do they know?

Thanks.
I'm looking for something that I wouldnt mind kneeling or sitting on. I've read about some of the creeping thymes, but haven't met anyone with real experience in growing ground covers.

Vinca is invasive enough to do the job and it will cover your neighbors yard, too.

I agree with Dale.  Vincas will spread and never stop growing.  My neighbor mows his down several times during the summer as if it were grass.  I think he's even sprayed them but they keep coming back.

Spreading is exactly what I want. The flowers look great.
my beds are 4'x12'  with 1.5 ft between each and probably an area of 200 sqft for everything else. I'm reading that I should plant about 12" from each plant. 
Does your neighbor have the "minor" or "major" strain? Will it take over the grass, or should I kill the grass?

Hey Gabe
you mean mulching with ground cover right.
well i did some study on the issue and the best was black and white cover (two sided).
htye reduce evaporation etc....

Pine straws (needlles) are a little expensive but work and decompose well, are easy to spread and I do not mind kniling on

Just a thought.  I know that clover, some lentils, and alfalfa are often used as a ground cover because they not only provide cover, but they add nutrients to the soil which  benefit your other trees and plants.

Would vinca add anything to the soil in the way of nutrients?  More importantly...would vinca rob nutrients that your other trees and plants could benefit from?

And will these ground covers spread into your raised beds by runners or seed?

Forgive me. I like to tease. I wasn't serious. Vinca is a pretty invasive plant. It will defintely cover ground, but as Frank observes, it's robust. It might not be what you are looking for, as it tends to creep thorughout and may end up taking over your beds.

I would suggest a "slow growing lawn!" 

There is a type of grass that's been around for over 60 years that is called Zoysia, It's very low mantainence, low height, slow growing, and the leaves if this grass weaves it's self to make a nice thick green carpet of disease resistant grass that you only need to mow ONCE OR TWICE a year.
My grandfather had a lawn of this grass. Barefoot, it was like walking on a nice thick rich Persian carpet!
It will grow so thick that it will sucessfully choke out all other grasses and weeds as it fills in.
Live starter plugs can be bought online for pennies a plug.
The only downside to Zoysia is it goes dorment in the winter, and turns completely brown from the first frost until spring when it will send up healthy new green shoots and be green again for the next season.
It can easily be kept in check with simple edging barriers, since it doesn't send out long runners like other grasses.

I like the idea of clover because it is a seed i can spread as opposed to plantings. I keep bees as well, so it would be beneficial to those little girls.

I don't think vincas would be a good one to plant there.  Four years ago, I uprooted several of my neighbor's vincas and transplanted them onto a bank I have.  They are perfect there, and they get thick and stringy.  I wouldn't want to walk through there, as I think it could be a home for snakes or other animals.  The first pic is the day I planted them.  The 2nd pic is 3 years later and you can see how much it has spread.  There are some weeds in there too, but mostly vincas.

+1 for clover. Another suggestion is indian strawberry.

That is some growth. I'm going to see if i can find indian strawberries and clover this week locally. I forgot about those strawberries. they are very low growing and soft as pillow under your feet. I think i have a family member with that in their lawn. Great idea. Thanks everyone

how about wood chips, you walk on, mulches the soil, worms come to live and enjoy..in a year or two, it breaks down, you toss it in the garden bed and put more on top.  have seen people put cardboards over the grass and tons of wood chips  over, suffocates the grass that breaks down and will feed the soil, so you don't need to remove it.

try watching that movie 'back to eden', he talks about how he gardens with woodchips.
 if it is not a walking path, then you can plant clover, comfrey

The only issues I see with a living ground cover is...can it withstand people walking on it.  Depending on how much time you spend walking or working in your raised beds in that area...wood chips might be the way to go.  I may plant alfalfa in my raised beds (if I ever get around to it), but for areas where people walk, I think wood chips might be the best bet.

I'm watching Back to Eden now. Besides all the scripture, I'm sold! Thank Grasa!!!

Frank

Instead of the vinca patch, seems like you could have grown yourself a fig hedge, or a raspberry hedge, or some other tall edible bush spaced nicely. id vote for a fig hedge.

Makes me want to take my beds down and just woodchip everything.

For sure.  Mulching heavily is the way to go.   Whether with straw or wood chips or something similar. 

If you do go with chips... find out what kind of tree(s) they are first, and ask whoever supplies them about them.  We got some kind of pine chips when we lived in the Sierras.  They emitted a caustic vapor that hurt the eyes and lungs.   I could hardly go outside to work in the garden.  Took almost a year to break down.

Check your pm's.

This reminded me we have 3 groves of pines, so pine straw is plentiful, and we'll be using it to mulch all the new in-ground figs and other fruits at the new property.  So far the ones we have planted rock!  They look healthy and are safe in their gopher baskets.

Suzi

After all of the suggestions I had before the growing season started, I couldn't be happier to have gone the wood-chip route. Here are a few pictures of how well things are growing and some harvested chard. Wood-chips (maple) were free from a local arborist