I have found mulching to work pretty well without the ground cover. I don't want to have to deal with mowing clover and grass plus clover tends to get rust here and looks unsightly. Mulching doesn't work 100 per cent for me, but I don't apply it as often as I should. When the mulch gets thin allowing the ground to show that is when the weeds start to sprout. Even then when I am deadheading and collecting seed pods I have been able to pull weeds as I go and keep them under control, this way there is never a large number of weeds.
