Asked for advice a few weeks ago about starting my native garden. First step I decided on was to remove the English ivy from the front of my house.
Next, I will put cardboard down and use yard debris to weigh it down.
edit: Beginning***
by One-Appointment-4382
15 Comments
My entire front yard is covered in that stuff. đ Whoever planted it should be glad I don’t know who they are!
Best of luck to both of us!
i’ll never understand why people actually like this shit and wintercreeper
it is so fucking ugly dude, like look at it
Apparently there is something called agricultural vinegar which should actually destroy it down to the roots in a season.
This is probably a good example of when itâs appropriate to responsibly use herbicide
I’m contemplating a similar mission with my patch of Vinca minor (perwinkle/myrtle). It’s so easy to miss a root here or there.
I’m on year 4 of battle of the bittersweet! Good luck
I recently learned you can slow creeping bellflower root spread with a 2ft deep trench. IDK if the this method works for ivy but Google says ivy roots are only like 7″ deep
If youâve had mosquitos before your gonna have a lot less now đ
English Ivy doesnât have super deep roots. I use a grub hoe to tear up the really thick ones, but this is a fairly small patch which I think you could mostly knock out in a season. Get a little herbicide to treat the stumps.
Hopefully you fare better than the French, and it doesnât become a Hundred Yearâs War with the English (ivy) đ
I donât think you need herbicide. Itâs not hard to pull and thatâs not that much.
It is going to be an ongoing problem from new seeds being dropped by birds, but you can pretty much wipe the existing batch out in one go.
On the bright side it doesn’t appear to favor the conditions of that site at all, so I don’t think you’re gonna have too much trouble getting rid of it. It longs for the sweet embrace of death.
I pulled out a patch like that last late spring/early summer. So far it has been very manageable. It does try to come back but it originates at a few locations that are easy to chop and paint.
Now is a great time to get in there and remove it. When you can work the ground, get in with a broadfork or smaller stiff fork and lift up the soil and pull out the ivy. Damp soil is the best for getting those roots out.
Here to hopefully give you a little bit of hope, OP! I had to deal with English ivy when I moved into my current home last year. The original owner let it climb the house and it was wildly out of control. I pulled up roots that were thicker than my leg. It felt like I was hacking it every day. Super happy to report that itâs only down to one tiny sprig that I see so far this spring, which is crazy considering how much I started with. You can totally do this!! Your foundation is going to thank you too đđ