I had a bunch of ivy growing on the back and sides of one of my storage buildings so I sprayed it with roundup a couple of weeks ago and cleared everything about 30" from the building yesterday. The lot is slightly sloped and I cut a decent drainage trench so that all the water gets directed around the slab and away from the building.

My question:
What should I do to keep the area around the storage building clean and well drained? The ivy was very thick and trapping moisture against the wood siding of the building.

I was planning to create a 30" border around the building that consists of landscaping fabric topped with gravel. I'm thinking the landscaping fabric should keep the ivy from rooting around the building. The ivy will still try to grow over the rocks, but I can probably get by with just spraying it with roundup every couple of months. In addition, the gravel should provide decent drainage.

Any tips?

6/5/2006 5:55:13 PM

Water flows downhill.

Make sure your grading is sensible.

...profit.

6/5/2006 8:21:16 PM

A french drain might do the trick.

6/5/2006 9:41:57 PM

turn it into a full fledged moat to keep the black knight at bay

6/5/2006 9:54:01 PM

spray down the area with round up so nothing will ever grow and mulch it

^i laffed

6/5/2006 10:06:51 PM

I looked into a french drain, but ~24" deep seemed excessive since there isn't really a drainage issue. I'm not really lazy, but I don't want to do a bunch of excess work either.

The real issue is creating a long term barrier to separate the ivy from the building. Drainage is currently ok and should be ok as long as I don't get a bunch of brush trapped against the side of the building again. I just want the gravel and landscaping fabric to maintain the current ivy barrier and water flow.

You couldn't even see the concrete slab before I cleaned it all up and the ivy was climbing up the side of the building.

[Edited on June 5, 2006 at 10:37 PM. Reason : l]

6/5/2006 10:14:14 PM

This is why most vines should be used with caution. If its English Ivy (Hedera helix), its going to be tough to combat. That stuff is super invasive.

6/6/2006 5:29:01 PM