Tales of the ivy….

You must be sick of seeing pictures of my backyard by now, tired of it. of course I never do, but then I have plans for my tiny pocket of sunshine. Look closely and you will see that this his picture is different. This one shows my yard after the bit of pottering about I decided on Sunday morning turned into a full blown clearing exercise.

I had already removed the miniature fir which had grown into a six foot tall four foot wide ball of dense needles and the extra light was impressive. So with that success under my gardening belt, I decided to tackle the ivy that creeps over from my neighbours and tumbles down my wall.

At first it was easyish going, my loppers, shears, and pruners soon cutting the ivy back so that I could see the coping stones on top of the wall for the first time in years. The corner was different though. The ivy in the corner had grown into a huge ball and on investigation the roots of the ivy had grown into the wall and lifted the coping stones. That ivy ball had to go, so taking my saw I attacked the six inch trunk that was firmly embedded into the brickwork. It wasn’t easy but eventually I got through, the ivy ball tumbling into the alley below.

It was at this point that I realised just how big it was – five feet wide and four feet high – a full seats-down, parcel shelf removed, car full - as we found to our cost. It took two trips to the tip to get rid of all the ivy that I’d removed and the green bin was jam-packed full.

As an afterthought I dug up the hideous rhododendron bush that had sat looking ugly in the corner for years. It won’t be missed, a single flower a year is hardly a show.

So now my yard has much more light, it's almost a blank canvas to start over again. I even had a visit from a robin as I toiled away, the first time a robin has visited my garden in over 25 years. A good omen I hope.

PS - Gotta love the gnomes.