Our Washington Life: It's Not a Jungle Out There

For my St. Louis readers, do you remember that Six Flags "ride" Castaway Kids Jungle Adventure? (And yes, I looked up the "official" name) You sat in the little log boat thing and took the river through the "story" of some kids crashing into a jungle or something? And at the end there were little monkeys that popped out of the walls and people stuck gum on their mouths? (Danielle is probably the only one that knows what I am talking about . . . !)

Anywho . . . there was this song that played during your ride that just pretty much repeated the phrase "It's a jungle, it's a jungle, it's a jungle out there!" Well, when we were clearing up, "gardening," our front yard, that song kept popping into my head. It was a jungle. A jungle of ivy, awful awful ivy. (Hence, the title of this post. . . it's NOT a jungle out there any more!)

I'm talking about this ivy.

As you might be able to see, we had ivy growing around the edge of the stairs and even up the wall on the left. The ivy was strangling our monkey grass, which is already pretty resilient. And, at least in my opinion, it was ugly. And boring. (I want a fun yard!)

So, Chris and I decided early on that the ivy had to go, and the first warm weekend we had in DC we got to work. I trimmed the ivy away. Chris hacked the ivy away.

Check out those roots!

The "heart"

Based on my ~~research~~ googling, I knew that you had to get the roots of the ivy out. Little did we know that ivy apparently forms tree-like roots. Thick, twisted, endless roots. When we got to what I refer to as the "heart" of the ivy operation in our front yard, I was astounded. It was even pinkish-red and vien-y like a real heart. And, as you can see, as big as Chris' head. What we thought would be a couple hours of work turned into a whole afternoon of work. And a week of soreness. (Ivy-hacking is apparently a workout as well.)

But, then our front yard was free from ivy and looked like this. (Ivy-free, yipee!)

Look! You can see the actual ground! Ivy-free, yipee!

And, now, after another afternoon of yard work, we have an actual, and soon-to-be pretty, yard!

(our house is on a hill) or (one of us can't hold a camera straight)

Ta da!! Monkey grass trimmed, grass seed laid, new bushes in, brand-new mulch, AND, most importantly, no ivy! And, here's the "before" photo, just for your reference.