Vines

I have not planted my tomato and pumpkin yet. I am still doing battle with the ivy that once inhabited the spot where I want to put it.

We have several invasive plants in our yard. The blackberries were volunteers whose initial growth happened behind an outbuilding. By the time we knew they were there, they were firmly established.

The first butterfly bush was a gift, but it grew well, and it really does attract butterflies, and we got two more before we knew that they actually grow way too well.

The ivy was the most deliberate. Mom worked at a place that had an ivy patch, and she liked it. She wanted some to climb one of the posts, which it did. We knew that ivy has a tendency to overgrow, which I believe is why she planted it in a pot - to keep it contained. Big mistake.

Yes, planting it at all was a mistake, but planting it in the pot seems to have made it worse. The ivy broke through the pot, but first it sent strong thick ropes circling the bottom of the pot, making a dense mass.

All I really want to say about the big mass is that it broke two shovels. That part is out now, but there is still too much ivy. There are vines and roots. Some of them don't look too bad, and you can pull on them relatively easy, but you keep pulling more and more, and it's still coming.

Some are thicker, but that isn't enough explanation for why they refuse to budge. So you keep digging deeper around it, trying to find the snag.

I have worked with other vines before, including morning glory and a member of the nightshade family, and yes I was constantly amazed at how quickly it had established itself, and how much of it there was. Sometimes I would tug on a vine and it was like unspooling cable. Still, the problem there was always just quantity, and sometimes the way it would tangle around the host plant. Toughness was not an issue. Ivy is tough.

There is still one section of root that I want to try and get out. The quantity that had already been dug up by then was amazing, especially compared to what was visible before I started. There may always be some left, but ideally I want it to not be so much that it has a resurgence that chokes my pumpkins.

Yes, I'm planting another vine.