Dear LPG,

I have lived in my home for 35 years.  My children have grown up and gone their separate ways and even though all that time has gone since I moved in, it feels like yesterday and I think of the house as being new, perhaps because I moved in just after it was first built.  Somehow I have missed the gradual details of its aging.

Until recently and throughout all that time I have spent lots of time entering and exiting on my way to and from shopping trips, taking children to and from school, commuting to work, visiting friends, going to church and even passing the garden broom over the front path, but recently I looked up and noticed that I have Ivy beginning to climb up one section of the wall. Luckily there is not too much, and I think it looks quite pretty, but I have heard a lot about all the damage it can do and just how difficult it is to get rid of.

I am not the perfect gardener; I think I am more of a garden tidier really, I have heard that Ivy can affect the brickwork and decided to pull it off. I had no idea just how hard it is to do that, and I did not get too far, so referred to Google who had some tips for me.

I have found some solutions on YouTube although they look quite drastic.  From what I have learned I think that there are two problems: getting it off the wall and dealing with the roots. The latter looks easier to deal with, while I am not sure that I want to play with fire to deal with the leaves. I am lucky to report that my wall is not too bad yet so I hope that, with YouTube’s help, I will be able to get to the root of the problem myself. But failing that, I suspect that the larger the problem becomes, the more expensive and difficult it will be to deal with.  I will let you know how I get on in due course.

I just want to encourage all readers to take a proper look at the walls that surround their houses.

KR, Grove Park

KR offers some information on why Ivy growing up your walls is not always good…

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.. how to get rid of it…

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.. and one way to get rid of the route…

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