Tackling the Ivy

I love our backyard.  When I came to our house for the first time and stepped out onto the deck, and then into the yard, I was thrilled.  It's huge compared to the little courtyards that passed for outdoor space at our townhouse in NoVa.  After thinking "Wow" my thoughts turned to "oh boy, this is a lot of yard to take care of."

Still, I love our yard.  What I don't love is the ivy.

And do we ever have a lot of ivy.


We have ivy here.

And here.

And here.

And here.

Until today, we had ivy here, but this is where I was standing when I decided that it was time for the ivy to go, it is was the first section to get yanked.

If you squint and look on the other side of the fence at the top you see...more ivy.

We had a conversation some time ago with our neighbor and it was obvious from that chat that he wasn't going to miss the ivy.

Darren helped out by starting to cut it from the fence.

On the other side of the fence is our neighbors ivy-free yard.  Our boys love hopping the fence to play there when the neighbor's grandkids come to visit.

One big reason I want the ivy gone is that it will more than double the useable space in the yard.  With two boys who have energy to burn, I need all the yard space we can muster.  I also don't like wondering just what is creeping and crawling under the ivy...I want useable space where I can see what I'm dealing with.

Thankfully the only things I discovered when pulling out the ivy today were unhappy worms and rocks. Actually what looked to be broken pieces of old stone pavers.  Who knows how long they've been hidden away under the ivy.

It's definitely exhausting work, yanking out that ivy.  I'm a bit wary to stop and sit still for fear my back and leg muscles will revolt and keep me from moving again today.  On the other hand, I'm not feeling so bad about making/eating those Old Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts anymore.

Goodness only knows how many years this ivy has been spreading...invading all the corners of the yard, encroaching on our neighbors yards...taking over.

It's days are numbered.  It's going to take a long time, but now that I've started, I'm ready to get rid of it...all of it.