Ivy, Blackberries and Lily of the Valley...

Not to mention the dandelions. As I attacked the back yard jungle today, I was wondering what would happen if you didn’t pull out all those nasty dandelions. Would a field of little yellow flowers really be that bad? My goal was to put on my hiking boots and tackle the ivy from the back side of the house. I made it about 5 feet before I realized that if I continued I would end up with several trips to the dump, just to cut the ivy back. Better to attack it from the other side of the fence and get rid of just the ivy that was growing through the fence (and into every plant and growing space imaginable)! The real fun began when the ivy and blackberries were competing for who got to climb over the fence & be first through my little garden space and to the back lawn. They weren’t expecting me as their biggest obstacle.

During the yard attack, I discovered lots of pretty nice red bricks just behind the back fence. It looks like they must have been dumped there when the neighbors behind us rebuilt their retaining wall & they didn’t want to risk injuring themselves while trying to retrieve them. Most likely they didn’t want them anyway and figured dumping them in the blackberries and ivy would be better than paying to get rid of them. Well, I want them- at least for now. I’m using them to build small temporary terracing. Hopefully this will be a band aid for the erosion until we put a true retaining wall in the back.