Thursday 21 January 2016

Don't let ivy drive you up a wall

While ivy is the bane of many estate agents, kept under tight control ivy can be a real asset to a garden. It is one of the few evergreen climbers that is self supporting. None is as hardy as ivy.

Now is the time of year to give it a bold haircut because you want to do a hard prune before it starts growing again. If you want your ivy to grow to cover more wall, we recommend you take it hard back to the wall until the only lightest cover remains. This removes the shoots that flower rather than cling. Doing this ensures that all the plant's energies are pushed back into the main stems instead of the extremities and you get fast lush growth.

Ivy needs regular tending to however and can be quite demanding. Untangling it from gutters, roofs, walls and fences can be a real chore, as can pulling up shoots that are rooting along the ground.

Give Hedgehoggs Gardening Solutions a call if you've had enough of trying to keep it at bay by yourself. We have the experience and equipment to easily tame it for you and ensure it's in good shape year round.