I was out in the garden doing some spring cleaning earlier today. Our yard is full of somewhat inaccessible areas covered in English Ivy. Now that things are starting to leaf out, I realized that the English Ivy was riddled with poison ivy. Worse, I was more or less in the middle of the poison ivy when I realized this. Once I saw the first plant, I started seeing it everywhere. So, since I was wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt and holding a scythe-like cutting tool, I decided to take out all of the ivy I could find in one go. I chopped back all of the young leaves I could see.
Now, I have a few questions. First off, what, if anything, can I do to clean the clothes, shoes, and tool that I used? The garden tool was expensive and I was wearing my quality work boots, so I'd prefer not to just trash everything.
Secondly, did I actually do anything useful by cutting the plant back? The vines were all small, just little shoots. I was hoping that maybe I would exhaust the food stores in the root. If nothing else, I was hoping I would stop the spread of the plant, at least temporarily. I guess my question is: will I have to do this again, and if so, how often (I know that depends on climate, etc...)? If I'm going to be dealing with poison ivy eradication on a continuing basis, I'd like to find out some good way to rehabilitate my tools and clothes. I definitely can't afford a new pair of boots each time if I'm going to have to do this every few months!
Thanks for any advice,
Adrian |
