We spent much of September trying to clear up some of the ivy that has infested our backyard and threatened to eliminate what little grass we have. It was a multi-day and multi-trash-can project (ivy cannot be composted so it, like bamboo, has to be included in the regular trash and not the yard waste).
How did we do it? Well, we generally hate using chemicals for tasks we can do with a little muscle, so muscle is what we used. First, D took the lawn mower to it, to get rid of the surface leaves and make it easier to get to the vines.
Then the real fun began! Pulling up ivy is a lot like playing tug-of-war with the ground. Find a vine (or 10 or 20) and PULL! It's quite a work-out. We did a lot of work reaching down into the dirt to find hidden runners, so I'm pretty confident that the part we "cleared" really is clear. For now, anyway.
(I spent a few fun afternoons doing this before D got home. I figured it substituted for a more traditional workout.)
Each time we cleared a swath, D would finish things up by rototilling it (thanks Mom and Dad for the rototiller!). We worked really hard for a few weeks during a dry spell and then decided it was time to lay down some grass seed just before the forecast called for rain. Here's how far we got:
The ivy continues under the tree and to the left, but we've sort of lost steam and moved on to other projects, especially because it's gotten wet and pulling up ivy through mud doesn't sound very appealing. At least we've recovered some lawn.
Here's the lawn this morning--you can see that we've successfully grown some grass! D just overseeded it last week to fill in some of the gaps.
Thanks to this project, I've discovered that I don't hate working outside, I just hate growing things. I'm pretty good at destruction though. So I'll leave the seeding and planting to D and continue to rip up the stuff we don't like. More to come, once the yard dries out.
In other outdoor news, we have a few mystery plants. Can you identify them?
Here's a pretty flowering plant we have in our back yard. It's obviously a late-summer/early-fall bloomer and loves shade, since it's in the shade of the house all day. I'd like to buy more or learn how to split it up, to put it in a few other shady spots:
And last, our border grass seems to have grown berries! What?! Do you know what this is all about?
2 comments:
The yard looks really nice.
I was very lucky in having a landscaper friend come to visit today, so I was able to find out about your mystery plants.
The pink flowering ivy thing, is called Bleeding Hearts. Its a summer plant. The reason you see it now is because of all the rain. According to my friend, its been dormant all summer because of the draught. With all this rain its come back to life. It normally starts to die when the weather starts to get cold. You can still plant it all over the shady areas of the yard, but you'd have to water it frequently in the hot summer months.
The grassy item is call "Liriopi Grass". There are two kinds. One all green the other is verigated. Type it into Google and see what beautiful flowers they get.In fact now I'm getting some for my yard.
I'm sure you'll be able to find out a lot more on the web. But atleast you now have names to them.
Good job on the yard.
Signed,
M
Wow, thanks! Actually we did have tiny little purple flowers about a month ago and wondered what was going on with that and if it was the grass itself or weeds poking through the grass. The blossoms weren't very hardy--maybe because the grass works best in shade and it is on the sunny side of our house. But it's pretty none the less. I definitely recommend it.
Post a Comment