As you may have noticed, we have quite a bit of Ivy around our property. Slowly but surely, we are getting rid of them all. The last major hurdle is the Ivy in the backyard.
A third of our backyard was covered in Ivy. It was around the perimeter of the property, primarily against the property line of the neighbors behind us. As you can see, the Ivy was so overgrown that fence separating the two properties is almost nonexistent.
I still cringe when I see these pictures and how much of an eyesore and space it took away from our yard. I do not want to sound like a person that despises Ivy, but there is a reason it is considered to be an invasive plant when outdoors.
If you do not spend the time and effort to control these plants, they will grow out very quickly and overcome any other plant life that may be in the area. I know that I do not have the self discipline to oversee such a high maintenance plant, thus explains my strategic Ivy removal initiative on my property.
Some websites and garden books recommend using a lawn mower or weed wacker to initially breakdown the Ivy, prior to removal. Personally, I would say that is one of the worst ideas when dealing with Ivy. This invasive plant has an innate ability to grow in what seems like any weather condition. If you chop it up with a lawnmower, now you drastically increased the number of the plants and potentially have spread it across not only your property but that of your neighbors.
First thing I did was make my typical pilgrimage on to Home Depot and went to the herbicide section. I went straight down the aisle and looked for any herbicide that had a specific formula for Ivy. Although it seems an oxymoron, but Ortho brands of herbicide seem to be the most "eco-friendly" of all the brands that were on the shelf. I drenched the Ivy with the herbicide and let it sit for a day or two - read the warning labels carefully as each type of herbicide has its own particular directions pertaining to pets, children, effectiveness due to weather, etc. To my surprise the furthest branches and exposed roots were in the process of browning and withering away after my first application of the herbicide. For me, the use of herbicide a few days prior to tackling the Ivy made it easier to uproot the plant as the poison was actively killing the plant.
Have someone help you, take lots of breaks or have a case a beer with you while working. I'm not going to lie, it's back breaking work and you will feel it for a couple of days. I had a pair of sheers to cut the veins that were intertwined within the fence, but the rest of the work was done using my two hands and pulling it right out of the ground. I was surprised that the roots were really not that deep into the ground, maybe 3 inches deep at most. Unlike the Ivy in the Summer Garden Project #2, the root system was very shallow and the majority of the Ivy's root system was laying on top of the soil.
When removing the Ivy, I would recommend disposing it in contractors bags rather than the gardening brown bags or in a compost pile. Like I mentioned before, Ivy is an invasive plant and will quickly thrive in any new environment it is introduced within. Be sure to remove all the root systems when pulling the Ivy. With all the soil that you are turning over, you are actually making it more of an ideal growth environment for the Ivy.
After the Ivy had been uprooted, I reapplied the herbicide as a precautionary measure, just in case I missed a few pieces of root systems. No matter how much work I do on my property, the culprit still lies on the other side of the fence on my neighbors lawn. They do not maintain the Ivy as it is located behind a number of trees so they do not even see the Ivy from their porch - I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even know they have Ivy on the property. Either way, I periodically will go back there and spray the fence area with the herbicide to ensure that no stray Ivy root system wants to traverse onto my side of the fence.
Just to give you an idea of how much trash came out of clearing 50 feet length of Ivy which was about 5 feet wide....
I still cringe when I see these pictures and how much of an eyesore and space it took away from our yard. I do not want to sound like a person that despises Ivy, but there is a reason it is considered to be an invasive plant when outdoors.
Some websites and garden books recommend using a lawn mower or weed wacker to initially breakdown the Ivy, prior to removal. Personally, I would say that is one of the worst ideas when dealing with Ivy. This invasive plant has an innate ability to grow in what seems like any weather condition. If you chop it up with a lawnmower, now you drastically increased the number of the plants and potentially have spread it across not only your property but that of your neighbors.
First thing I did was make my typical pilgrimage on to Home Depot and went to the herbicide section. I went straight down the aisle and looked for any herbicide that had a specific formula for Ivy. Although it seems an oxymoron, but Ortho brands of herbicide seem to be the most "eco-friendly" of all the brands that were on the shelf. I drenched the Ivy with the herbicide and let it sit for a day or two - read the warning labels carefully as each type of herbicide has its own particular directions pertaining to pets, children, effectiveness due to weather, etc. To my surprise the furthest branches and exposed roots were in the process of browning and withering away after my first application of the herbicide. For me, the use of herbicide a few days prior to tackling the Ivy made it easier to uproot the plant as the poison was actively killing the plant.
When removing the Ivy, I would recommend disposing it in contractors bags rather than the gardening brown bags or in a compost pile. Like I mentioned before, Ivy is an invasive plant and will quickly thrive in any new environment it is introduced within. Be sure to remove all the root systems when pulling the Ivy. With all the soil that you are turning over, you are actually making it more of an ideal growth environment for the Ivy.
After the Ivy had been uprooted, I reapplied the herbicide as a precautionary measure, just in case I missed a few pieces of root systems. No matter how much work I do on my property, the culprit still lies on the other side of the fence on my neighbors lawn. They do not maintain the Ivy as it is located behind a number of trees so they do not even see the Ivy from their porch - I wouldn't be surprised if they don't even know they have Ivy on the property. Either way, I periodically will go back there and spray the fence area with the herbicide to ensure that no stray Ivy root system wants to traverse onto my side of the fence.
Although the picture is from another garden project, you can see that I have been able to keep the my backyard Ivy free for some time now. We have not decided what to do with that portion of the backyard yet, but it's nice to just have room in the backyard again. We also noticed that once we removed the Ivy, there were far less insects and bugs in the area.
Just to give you an idea of how much trash came out of clearing 50 feet length of Ivy which was about 5 feet wide....
. It will take some patience but the cleyera will quickly grow in and replace that invasive burning bush. best 22 inch self propelled lawn mower
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