# Complete Make Over - need recommendations



## GarrettG (10 mo ago)

Hi All -

New here but in need of extreme help. I have a south facing hill covered in periwinkle and other unknown ground cover, some type of ivy. Within all the ground cover there is various weeds and grasses infiltrating everything. I would like to completely start a new, and need recommendations on how to proceed in term of chemicals and process to try to get all this junk out. Attached are some pictures.

The plan is to remove all the trees etc, and literally start from scratch. I am going to redo the retaining wall as well. But first thing first, I need to kill/remove this stuff! Excited to learn more about lawn and landscape care here!


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

honestly make it what you envision it to be. whats your thoughts


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Building a landscape is dependent on taste. You should consider how much time you want to spend maintaining it. An English Cottage Garden style with a lot of roses and flowering plants will be more work than a Paririe Garden style landscape with broad swaths of ornamental grasses and fewer flowering plants. You should also determine how much sun you have in the various areas of the location to be renovated. Ground cover and Ivy is often used where there is a lot of shade which will limit your options and reduce the variety of flowering plants you can use. Once you determine what you want and have an idea of sun levels, you can start planning. There really isn't a wrong way to plan, and the nice thing about a garden is that you can change it. In fact, expect to be adjusting the garden for several years (forever?) as some plants will not do as well as expected, and at least for me, the garden plans I make never quite works as well as expected.

A couple practical concerns regardless of design. Gardens start with good soil. 
- I would highly recommend that you spend the time up front to fix the soil. That generally means a lot of compost and/or peat moss. Think 3-6 inches thick in total mixed into the top 18 inches of soil. It is a lot of work but will pay off in the long run. 
- If you have ground ivy, it can be very difficult to eliminate. Ivy is a bit like Poa Trivialis and will grow from small pieces of roots and runners. A mixture of Triclopyr and Glyphosate works well, but takes multiple treatments. I would still manually remove it after chemical treatment. You should remove as much as you can and send it to the landfill or burn it. I would not compost it unless you know you have a good hot compost pile to kill it. 
- Expect a lot of weed pressure over the next 5-10 years. I renovated a similar garden and was dealing with weeds for the next three years until I moved out of the house.

Best of luck. That is a large project.


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## GarrettG (10 mo ago)

Thanks for the input. I have a family friend who owns a large nursery, and he will consult on plants for the "renovation hill" as I've termed it. Before that though, I'd like to start eliminating the ground cover entirely (large feat I know)… are there any recommendations on a process to best remove/kill the existing ivy and periwinkle? I've googled and have found conflicting information; some say cut the ivy and periwinkle with lawnmower or trimmer, then spray with 3-4% triclopyr 4… on the other hand some recommend not cutting and trying to remove as much as possible by hand/machine, bagging and disposing/burning to reduce the chance of spreading.

I am to the point I literally would control burn sections to get this stuff eliminated.


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## Grizzly Adam (May 5, 2017)

GarrettG said:


> I am to the point I literally would control burn sections to get this stuff eliminated.


I don't think that would be effective. Most ground covers respond well to being burned. I would just treat the whole area with glyphosate for the grassy stuff and tordon for the woody.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Spray with a mix of 2-4% Triclopyr and 2-4% glyphosate. Re-apply at 1 week. Remove as much as possible 2-4 weeks after the initial spray. Plan for it to come back next year.


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## GarrettG (10 mo ago)

bernstem said:


> Spray with a mix of 2-4% Triclopyr and 2-4% glyphosate. Re-apply at 1 week. Remove as much as possible 2-4 weeks after the initial spray. Plan for it to come back next year.


Thank you for the recommendation. I'll do just this. A few more questions before spraying… should I cut back any of the ground cover or other weeds in the hill. Say with a trimmer or low setting mower (I have an old crappy one laying around I could use and not care if it gets destroyed..) Would this allow the chemical to penetrate more? At what temperature do you think this would work best? Also, any added benefit by adding a surfactant at all?


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

GarrettG said:


> bernstem said:
> 
> 
> > Spray with a mix of 2-4% Triclopyr and 2-4% glyphosate. Re-apply at 1 week. Remove as much as possible 2-4 weeks after the initial spray. Plan for it to come back next year.
> ...


Spray before anything. More leaf is more potential absorption.


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## Lawn Whisperer (Feb 15, 2021)

If your going do redo the retaining wall, I would consider a terraced (tier) retaining wall.


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## GarrettG (10 mo ago)

bernstem said:


> GarrettG said:
> 
> 
> > bernstem said:
> ...


Thank you. I will spray 2 applications, give it some time and manually remove as much as I can. Appreciate the input.

As to the wall, I did think about a terrace wall however price to do so isn't worth it to me. This is a 3-5yr home for us. If it was long term I'd go all out on it.


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## ceriano (Oct 6, 2021)

GarrettG said:


> Hi All -
> 
> New here but in need of extreme help. I have a south facing hill covered in periwinkle and other unknown ground cover, some type of ivy. Within all the ground cover there is various weeds and grasses infiltrating everything. I would like to completely start a new, and need recommendations on how to proceed in term of chemicals and process to try to get all this junk out. Attached are some pictures.
> 
> The plan is to remove all the trees etc, and literally start from scratch. I am going to redo the retaining wall as well. But first thing first, I need to kill/remove this stuff! Excited to learn more about lawn and landscape care here!


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## GarrettG (10 mo ago)

ceriano said:


> GarrettG said:
> 
> 
> > Hi All -
> ...


Wow thank you. That definitely gives me some inspiration


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## GPO Man (11 mo ago)

The section on the hill makes a great place for a garden, not necessarily vegetables but a layer of small trees and shrubs, perennials, and annuals. Plant grass on the bottom area. That's a great blank canvas in which to do anything.


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## GarrettG (10 mo ago)

I am thinking of possibly adding a water feature of some sort. Possibly a slow running waterfall down multiple stones to a hidden catch basin vs an actual small collection pond. My friend put something similar at his house in his yard, turned out pretty neat.

That'll be far down the line though, but I'll
Plan for the possibility while I plan out plant layout. In the meantime, time to order some chemicals.


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