Question
I would like to plant 2, preferably 3, rows of pine trees at the edge of our back yard.  And I would like them to be the kind that drop their needles and prevent the grass from growing ?as in a pine forest.  However, I know that it would take many years until they would be large enough to create the mini pine forest.  So I was thinking of putting down pine needle ground cover.  Any suggestions?  I really don抰 want to have to mow or weed-whack the area.  We live in S. DE.

Answer
Hey, Gracie.

I did the same thing once at a house I owned in Houston, which is at the western edge of the Southern Pine Belt. However, I couldn't find any pine needle mulch at the home improvement stores, and I still can't. I don't know why someone doesn't sack it up and sell it to people like you and me. Nonetheless, what I did was go around to my neighbors' houses and offer to rake up their pine needles for them. Then I took them to my yard. Outside of the labor I provided, the pine needles were free; the neighbors, who hated their pine trees, loved me; and everyone was happy. Happy neighbors are good neighbors!

If you want to use a bark mulch, there is pine bark mulch on the market.

If you're looking for a way to control weeds in the short-term, clear the ground of weeds, apply some weed killer, put down some weed cloth, and then cover with some fine mulch to a depth of at least an inch. The finer the mulch, the more difficult it is for weeds to grow, and those that do get a start will be very easy to remove.