Collecting Leaves Now - Page 2

zeroma · October 28, 2012

So what is an erosion control blanket? and we will be getting down to 32 tonight, and our highs only in the mid 40's this next week, so too late for rye grass I think. But I'm listening and thinking about everyone's suggestions.

I have the plants in the bottom 1/3 of the hill already, it took 2 seasons to get rid of that much of the Ivy, so it is the top 2/3 of the hill that remain well established ivy. I just want flowers and pretty grownd cover/mulch stuff instead of all the creeping ivy. I really hate to see it climbing up the trees. Though, I have cut it away from all but one of them.

Budget is of some consideration, but it is the intensive labor involved in hand removing the ivy in the past that has been a big issue.

I do hand crumble some leaves, to add to the small composting bin and in the rubber maid containers that I keep near the door for daily coffee grounds, kitchen scrapes and some clean yard scrapes. No weeds because it doesn't get cooking much. But I do get a beautiful compost in short order since I hand cut or chop the scrapes!

I've used my kitchen blender, but the hubby really doesn't like that (when he notices). I just blend up the garlic, onion peels, tomatoes with water, etc when I make sauce and that goes into the rubber maid storage bin!

dice · November 3, 2012

There was a formula posted for poison ivy control some time
back: it was a gallon of vinegar and a cup of salt.

You put a gallon of vinegar on the stove, bring it to a boil,
and stir in a cup of salt until it all dissolves in the vinegar.
Then spray it on the poison ivy. It will kill it.

I tried that on various weeds around the yard. On English Ivy,
it does not kill it outright with one treatment, but it does stop
growing. The leaves all kind of hang there and look half-wilted.
It might take more than one treatment to actually kill it back to
the roots.

The upside is that it is not a harmful chemical that will persist
in the soil. You do not really want salt someplace where you will
be growing vegetables or flowers, but a little salt, like the amount
that coats the ivy leaves, may not inhibit what you actually want
to grow there. The vinegar will not do anything bad to your soil in
the quantity sprayed on weeds.

November 3, 2012	#17
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	There was a formula posted for poison ivy control some time back: it was a gallon of vinegar and a cup of salt. You put a gallon of vinegar on the stove, bring it to a boil, and stir in a cup of salt until it all dissolves in the vinegar. Then spray it on the poison ivy. It will kill it. I tried that on various weeds around the yard. On English Ivy, it does not kill it outright with one treatment, but it does stop growing. The leaves all kind of hang there and look half-wilted. It might take more than one treatment to actually kill it back to the roots. The upside is that it is not a harmful chemical that will persist in the soil. You do not really want salt someplace where you will be growing vegetables or flowers, but a little salt, like the amount that coats the ivy leaves, may not inhibit what you actually want to grow there. The vinegar will not do anything bad to your soil in the quantity sprayed on weeds. __________________ -- alias

October 28, 2012	#16
zeroma Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 637	So what is an erosion control blanket? and we will be getting down to 32 tonight, and our highs only in the mid 40's this next week, so too late for rye grass I think. But I'm listening and thinking about everyone's suggestions. I have the plants in the bottom 1/3 of the hill already, it took 2 seasons to get rid of that much of the Ivy, so it is the top 2/3 of the hill that remain well established ivy. I just want flowers and pretty grownd cover/mulch stuff instead of all the creeping ivy. I really hate to see it climbing up the trees. Though, I have cut it away from all but one of them. Budget is of some consideration, but it is the intensive labor involved in hand removing the ivy in the past that has been a big issue. I do hand crumble some leaves, to add to the small composting bin and in the rubber maid containers that I keep near the door for daily coffee grounds, kitchen scrapes and some clean yard scrapes. No weeds because it doesn't get cooking much. But I do get a beautiful compost in short order since I hand cut or chop the scrapes! I've used my kitchen blender, but the hubby really doesn't like that (when he notices). I just blend up the garlic, onion peels, tomatoes with water, etc when I make sauce and that goes into the rubber maid storage bin!