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Using soil riddled with ivy
anderson365
Posts: 22
Hi, Recently bought our first house and it came with three huge ivy bushes which had been left for 10 years. They are gone now and I have removed the soil containing its roots. Am I able to sieve this over the winter months to reuse it or am I better taking it to the tip. Would prefer to minimise chances of it reappearing.
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Now for one more question. The soil quality is pretty poor and prone to waterlogging. Will spreading a tonne of sand into it before rotavating help its structure/drainage?
Planning to skim the existing turf after using glyphosphate and rota ate sand to improve structure/drainage.
I guess you have sorted this by now. My garden is heavy clay. I improved by digging in 50/50 sand and humus in huge amounts. In a hole that needed soil building up I used norfolktopsoil.co.uk. Under Lawn Care they provide a Renovation Mix (50/50 loam and sand) screened to 4mm. I mixed with equal parts humus and its proving a great little garden. Do avoid builders sand as the grains are too small (will make compaction worse) and will stain clothing. Building supplies often add builders lime to their supplies which also needs avoiding. I believe Silver Sand or Sharp Sand are the qualities to aim for, although my experience with Sharp Sand left the surface of the soil very gritty after a season or two.
I dug in sharp sand in the worst places together with lots of manure and compost, but just manure and compost in the not so bad places. I have limestone with clay pockets, very alkali and ivy seems to love it. The garden is terraced with stone walls and I've never managed to get rid of the ivy and the bindweed as it hides under the walls. I dug the beds first, then rotovated them to break up the lumps and it worked pretty well.
I have ivy popping up all over the place , from seed . How do I know ? the crows dropped pink seeds down the chimney , the children planted them and ivy grew so that explained the ivy all over the place to me
Thanks for all the advice.
I managed to dig up the roots of the ivy and most of the ground runners before the weather turned. I will see what regrows over winter before repeating glyphosphate and digging of the soil.
The soil that remains is poor quality and heavily compacted so will be considering Rotavator in spring time. Fingers crossed I have got the worst out and can pick remnants out as and when they appear.
No doubt I will be back for advice when the weather improves