What could I do with this banking?

NIMAN

I spent several tough hours weeding, strimming, hacking, pulling and chopping today in the garden

I have an area of banking that is very weedy, and had a lot of ivy through it. Will spend more time over the next couple of days clearing it further, but after that not sure what I could do with it.

I will be forever weeding.it if I leave it.

Is there.anything I could plant which might keep them down, or is it a lost cause?

jaffa20

Maybe sbk killer first to kill the ivy if you really don't want it. Then it depends on how much sun it gets. it could be an amazing border. Wish i had that space to work with

Lumen

Hedge?

Day Lewin

I think it looks nice with ivy, -- a native climber that will happily grow in deep shade and in drought, only needs clipping a few times a year, and sustains many insects and birds.

But you might also consider trailing Cotoneaster, trailing Rubus, or any of the Vincas. And plant bulbs for Springtime.

What about a good scattering of wild flower seeds? Lovely to look at and the bees love them!

Pa ElGrande

Sometimes you are better off working with nature than against it which is what most of us gardeners do anyway when we create artificial environments that are unsustainable without our constant supervision. Ivy does have some surprising benefits aside from the ecosystem it supports. Unless you are prepared to invest much more time and effort to clear much more the ivy will be right back undoing whatever you have done today. The best option is to control it to stop it overwhelming other plants around it, some people even use white vinegar to control ivy.


About 8-10 years ago I spent two years digging out ivy that had massively overwhelmed the garden I took over (50% of the space in an an area 10 mtr and 40 mtr), and even then I had to be vigilant for the many ivy seeds that germinated all over the garden in the following years so it is quite a task if you want to take it on.

If you are prepared to control the ivy rather than just giving it an annual prune then here are some plants that are available if you are looking for ideas.

NIMAN

I was always under the impression that ivy would smother and choke anything around it.

So should I just plant up some plants along the banking and keep the ivy at bay around them?

BTW, the banking is facing NE.

Thanks for replies so far.

Lumen

I think you should think about what you want. Is it just convenience? If so just leave the ivy to smother the bank.

I hate ivy. My war against it will continue until one of us is defeated.

blackbox

Day Lewin wrote: »

I think it looks nice with ivy, -- a native climber that will happily grow in deep shade and in drought, only needs clipping a few times a year, and sustains many insects and birds.

But you might also consider trailing Cotoneaster, trailing Rubus, or any of the Vincas. And plant bulbs for Springtime.

I'd go with the ivy. Fairly easy to maintain - just clip it back and pull it off the trees as necessary.

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