(Pacific Northwest) I’m looking for inspiration and motivation. We have begun cutting the ivy and blackberry bushes down to the ground. Obviously, it’s going to take a while, but once we do, what should we plant here instead? Someday we’d love to put in a few tiers of retaining walls, but until then we’re hoping to find something’s that are fairly low maintenance, won’t get choked out by the ivy and blackberries (though we’ll be doing our best to stay on top of those in the years to come). Partial sun. PNW. Thanks for your ideas!
by who-me-couldnt-be
31 Comments
Nothing, cause it’s all coming back
Raspberries and bamboo! /s
Milkweed for butterflies
A weed eater isn’t going to kill any of this. You need to remove the root systems.
For the blackberry roots, this is the best tool I’ve found: [https://bullytools.com/products/lawn-and-garden/cultivating-digging-forks/all-steel-spading-fork/](https://bullytools.com/products/lawn-and-garden/cultivating-digging-forks/all-steel-spading-fork/) It’s a solid metal garden fork, so it will take any abuse you throw at it without breaking. Use this to loosen the dirt all around each rootball, then pull the whole rootball out.
For the ivy, just grab onto the roots and pull. It it has a really large root system, like 1″ diameter or larger, then you can try tying a chain or rope to it and pulling it with a vehicle.
Both of these things are easier to do when the ground is soft, so you are picking a really bad time to be working this.
For what to plan here? Well, depends on your goals and budget. I’d recommend native plants. My first recommendation is to sign up to [Chipdrop.com](http://Chipdrop.com) and start getting loads of woodchips. Once you have an area cleared, then spread 6-8″ of woodchips over the clear dirt to help prevent new weeds from getting established. Then you can plant in those woodchips.
For what to plant, this place has the best prices for local native starts. [https://wacdpmc.org/](https://wacdpmc.org/)
It’s a wholesale nursery, so you have to buy bundles of 10-25 of the same thing, and they have a minimum spend. But they have a good selection of native plants. They only sell in winter, so you’ll have all summer/fall to get the area ready for planning and plan what you want.
My favorite flowering trees and plants that they sell are red flowering currant, Douglas spirea, mock orange, serviceberry, crab apple, choke cherry, and rosa rugosa.
If you want to turn the area into a forest, then consider adding Garry oak, paper bark birch, noble fir and western hemlock.
I’d love a giant blackberry patch. Maybe just mow some rows so you can access the berries. Pull the Ivy in the winter time.
It’ll take a very very long time (like few years) for you to truly kill all that.
That’s awesome. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. Thank you. Like others have noted, it’s coming back. Maybe plant some mint.
I’m no expert on poison ivy, but the best tool to combat blackberries that are invasive is time. Looking at this patch, it seems like the blackberries are a filler after former vegetation was removed for whatever reason. If the trees beyond are anything to go by, it looks like this patch could be returned to its evergreen state. Could you plant a couple pines and firs? Over time, those will naturally choke out blackberries that require light to thrive.
Native plants! Look up what perennial natives are in your area and put them in. Better for wildlife and the local environment
Mow it all down, put layers of cardboard down and hold in place with cinder blocks. You’ll kill everything in one calendar year.
Sheet mulch with weed fabric. This isn’t a solution as much as a tool. It will kill most of it after a year or so.
Remove the fabric and then till it. Leave the tilling exposed to dry.
Good luck.
Find your local conservation district, and they should have native plant sales every year.
Oregon grape, mock orange, serviceberry, broadleaf lupines, coastal or beach strawberry, Crevice Alumroot, Red Flowering Currant, Western Columbine, and more can all spice up that spot while providing for pollinators!
It’ll take years before you’re able to plant anything with all that ivy, ugh!!! It’s my nemesis!
I would rent a brush hog and keep at it until it all dies. It will take a while.
Goats, plant goats there and the blackberries will be gone.
Fruit trees..
Rent some goats, it will kill it.
Mint
I’ve been trying to get rid of blackberries in my yard for three years. I’ve had it masticated with heavy equipment, I’ve sprayed, I’ve pulled roots and so many other things and they come back every year with a vengeance. Hope you have better luck than me.
I removed a big patch of English Ivy by cutting it down to the roots, covering it in a thick mat of mulch, then removing any shoots. It was completely gone in a couple years
Evergreen huckleberry!!
Nothing for a bit if your removing them plants your ground needs to be fertile. Turn ito a scrap bin for your household vegetable scraps. Let them rot in the soil. Turning now and then allowing them to mix .. throwing in leaves or anything green. Or can buy some fertilizer but still takes time for that to properly mix in to grow. We just use greens from kitchen and leaves and such. No meat no dairy those are the rules. By the time it’s ready you should have an idea what to plant
blueberries
Nothing just clean it up and enjoy the blackberries. You will never get rid of them without having to poison the ground where nothing will ever grow again.
Once you clear it, setup a fence around the area and put goats in there. They’ll keep it trimmed back until the rhizomes finally die off.
Brother you can fight the blackberries to stalemate but you will never actually finish them off. You could pave it and they would still blast through. I’ve lived it for decades in W WA.
Working to slowly, steadily and relentlessly take back that space is your best bet. Keeping that whole area clear is a tall order. Do you have interest in being a goat herder? They could be a helpful tool, according to Oregon State Extension: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/methods-control-blackberry-thickets
I think some blackberries and Ivy would look right at home there.
Yeah that’s coming back
Blackberries
I successfully eradicated English Ivy using the following method:
1. Cut it all out until you’re at bare dirt.
2. Use a Pulaski and swing it into the dirt as far as it will go then lever forward to break the roots and stolons (runners). Do this repeatedly walking backwards to try to break all the roots and runners.
3. Go back with a turning fork pushing it into the now-loose dirt at a shallow-ish angle and pull up as many of the broken roots and runners as is practical. You won’t get them all but the more you get the easer step 5 will be.
4. Put down 6mm black poly that overlaps at least 2 feet and leave it there for an entire year.
5. Pull up the poly. The surviving ivy will have put up sad sprouts that will be entirely white. These will show you where you need to go in again with the Pulaski and pull more roots up.
6. Put down cardboard that overlaps at least 2 feet. (take the tape off! I didn’t do this and I’m still pulling up the errant strand every time I weed the areas)
7. Put down 6″ of mulch
8. Aggressively pull any ivy shoots that appear before they have a chance to grow and send energy down into the roots. If you do all the above and are vigilant for 2 years, the ivy will be gone forever.