I have a nice big back yard and its main purpose it be a barrier between me and my neighbors. I don’t have children and don’t in general walk on it. I hate to mow and would love to minimize the need.
Is there a ground cover that I can plant that won’t grow too high, won’t need to be mowed and will still keep the mud down? Maybe something that can be walked on if need be.
Thanks
google this: Low Growing Ground Cover Perennial
You’ll notice a number of varieties, esp for PA. The trouble with your request is the need to walk on it. Most ground covers are not friendly to walk on.
here is a start though:
http://www.greenview.com/catalog2002/grndcov.htm
(I’ve seen bentrgrass used as groundcover successfully in PA. If you wanted a golf course green, bentgrass and lots of care would do it, but left alone bentrgrass will actually grow and stay very short, less than an inch and not grow very much. it’s an unusualy option, because bentgrass is actually the grass for greens on golf course, but some park ground keepers use it as a low maint ground cover)
I did a garden tour recently focusing on landscapers who had used native plants and saw one home with a buffalograss yard. This is a native prairie grass that grows in a wide range of soils and needs very little water. It was a lush dark-green grass which grew 6-8 inches high and didn’t need mowing. The owners said it had taken some work to get established but was extremely low maintenance now that it was in place. They’d sodded their yard, but seeds are available:
http://www.seedsource.com/catalog/detail.asp?product_id=2001
In shade areas, I’ve had good luck with English ivy. Once established, it spreads well and looks very good. You can walk through it if necessary with minimal damage, but it wouldn’t stand up to much traffic. I assume it would handle the winters where you are, but I’m not sure.
You could try for moss. We have a few sections in our yard that get alot of shade as the grass has given way to large patches of moss. Kind of looks like a green velvet carpet and definitely doesn’t require mowing.
I saw a newspaper gardening column that recommended this for shady areas. It suggested mixing a small amount of moss with a quantity of buttermilk in a blender and using that to seed new areas.
Cement?
Rocks?
Put in a patio. Big-ass barbecue.
Low-lying cactus garden, you don’t even need to water it much. hmm… southern Pennsylvania… probably not good…
I’d go with rocks.
OP is from Southern Pennsylvania…so be sure the stuff grows there. As a matter of fact, as a long time landscaper I would suggest you just visit a plant store & see what they have as Im not familiar with what grows in your area.
How about clovers?
I would LOVE to be able to afford Astrolawn, from the company that made NeXturf, the playing surface at Veteran’s Stadium. That looks low maintenace enough for me!
Wood chips also work, if you don’t care if it’s green. My mom gave up on having grass in the backyard about 15 years ago, when we got a dog, and it’s been woodchips ever since. She has a lot of trees in the yard, too, which might make a difference.
Chronos doesn’t the dog dig at and/or eat the wood chips? I’m interested in this topic, too, because my back yard is a steep hill that’s a real PITA to mow, and part of the front yard is bare from my dog digging. Geographically, any advice given to Khadji could work for me as well.
I second what YEP said. I’m trying to encourage the growth of clover in our backyard. It’s fairly soft, and doesn’t actually grow that high. I can let the stuff in my back yard go for a month, and it won’t be over 5 inches high.
Zoysa (sp?) might work. I stays low and is hardy, but it spreads like a weed and could invade your planting beds. Seeing as how youres using it on the back 40 you could get away with it.
Wildflowers would work too. Call around beccause the little packs you can buy wont be enough and you’ll want perennials. Lots of color and if you have good soil it should be low maintenance.
Bah…Zoysia is still grass and it’ll take years to crawl through the whole area…it’ll be brown from Oct - May. It it’ll shoot up with high sprouts in spring. It is very like other grasses most of the time = mowing.
…doesn’t fit the OP needs. Not in PA.
Baby’s Tears for me. If it’s shady at all I simply love this stuff. This may have been covered in one of the links but it just looks hevenly to me and sleays stays low.
Kudzu! Just throw a chunk in the middle of the back yard, and the only thing you have to do is the next fall you take a flamethrower and edge the 4 feet just inside your property line.
Casey1505, any mulch will help stabilize your yard. Over time you will have to add to it, but it’s better than losing property to erosion. About 3-5" should do.
snowcarpet, cool site. I’m suddenly considering Irish Moss for a big chunk of my lawn.
I agree also with YEP on the clover part. You can find it at nearly every farm supply store. But beware, it spreads like crazy. Do you like your neighbors? 
A really big deck would do the job. You can supplement that with a swimming pool, basketball court, bowlling lanes, etc. 