4. Maintenance Another regular moss garden maintenance recommended by Annie is to simply keep your garden free of debris by removing any twigs, acorns, or leaves that may fall into your planting area. While it’s not necessary to blow leaves away every day, it is important not to let leaf piles amass on your mosses throughout the entire fall/winter season. it may “sound shocking to recommend, and most people bristle at the idea of providing three watering sessions every single day, but they're only for one to three minutes each.” If you have a sprinkler with a controller/timer or a sophisticated irrigation system installed, watering maintenance will be a minimal concern. Annie explains, “Your mosses will definitely thrive better when supplemental water is provided, especially in areas that have a high heat index or particularly in times of drought.”
Annie’s final advice for beginning moss gardeners is two-fold: First, start small. Or as Annie puts it, “Do not think that you want your entire grass lawn changed. Well, you can think about it, but it would be a major undertaking to try to replace a grass lawn with mosses instead. It would take a fair amount of time and a huge amount of mosses, and if you're purchasing mosses, you might need to have a pretty hefty pocketbook, too.” Secondly, make sure you purchase your mosses from a moss supplier who maintains ethical standards and practices responsible land stewardship like Annie. She also possesses a permit to ethically harvest plants in her home state and has the necessary certification as a nursery required to ship mosses throughout the United States. If you purchase your mosses from someone unqualified, you run the risk of not receiving the proper species you need. You can learn more about ethical moss gardening at www. mountainmoss.com.
15
April 2025
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