A ground cover in the form of a flexible substrate defining a plurality of compactly arranged extractable sections. The installation method involves passing the substrate material from a feed roll to an extraction site on a mobile installation apparatus. A plurality of drive pins are aligned with the substrate and, as the drive pins advance, the sections are extracted and driven into the soil. Various drive pins arrangements are shown and the drive pins may reciprocate along with a rotational or impacting stroke to penetrate the soil while implanting the substrate sections.