Beginner Gardening: What's a good solution for underneath this picket fence?, 0 by greenbunny

greenbunny wrote:
I'm just starting to really work on redoing our whole yard, albeit we're broke, so progress is slow. I'm aiming for as much of a native restoration as possible, within obvious limitations. But simultaneously, we're also doing some phytoremediation work in our yard, by planting lots of sunflowers, which will get pulled up and disposed of as hazardous waste since they will hopefully contain lots of the heavy metals in our soil. (we live in a thoroughly toxic area of the city - foundry, asphalt plant, diesel fumes, etc.)

Anyhow, this fence will ultimately get replaced (i hope) with a taller skinny metal one (climbing toddler, throws stuff over this one). But since we're broke, that might take a few years. In the meantime, I'm planting rows of tall sunflowers along the inside of the fence.

But my question is, what should I plant along the base of the outside of the fence? Right now, it's lots of dandelions, creeping charley and kentucky bluegrass. I'd like to figure out something so that our water runoff is not going out into the sidewalk/street. So what's a short groundcover, native to Twin Cities area, that would help prevent soil erosion and live happily in dry, sandy soil with dappled sunlight?

Thank you for your advice and thoughts!

Peace,
Carrie Anne, aka the Green Warrior Bunny