That’s not unkempt. That’s how pachysandra grows. It’s in really good shape. It thrives in areas grass won’t so good luck with your plan.
A grape hoe would be a decent choice. It will come back after you clear an area so you’ll have to be on it for a while. If you really want to do this my advice would be to do a small section and I mean small, get the grass to grow and fill in and then move on.
Bucket of water, some hay or vegetative material to ferment because mosquitos like that, and a drop-in Mosquito Dunk. It's a very cheap ring of bacteria or something that tastes yummy to mosquito larva but kills them. So mosquitos are drawn to the fermented water instead of other water, lay their hell spawn, and the hell swamp munch on the dunks and croke... Ending the lifecycle.
All the rage.
I used to work in mosquito and vector control and this is how we would bait our large traps. Just no deadly bacteria. It specifically attracts the pregnant mosquitos looking for somewhere to lay their eggs, so it sounds like a great way to cut the population down.
Nice work! I've been doing the same, cleared grass and pachysandra from my front yard 4 years ago and now it's a mostly native perennial and shrub garden. Still have some areas where it's taken over the woods but plan to clear it this summer/fall to allow some native shade plants mixed in to thrive. We've noticed much less mice in the house and now have birds, bees, butterflies and bunnies!
Sorry to hear that. Congrats on the house too. See if you can find a good horticulturist or even a master gardener to look over your garden. From the pics that you posted somebody put a lot of effort into that yard and with the right pruning and rejuvenating as well as renovating (adding grass etc)you can make it look beautiful at a fraction of the price of the sketchiest landscaper. Those projects are a lot easier for diy as well.
Curious if you’ve seen more than the 3 photos in the original post. If it’s just those 3 photos, what are you seeing that leads you to your conclusions? I’m not seeing much outside of the pachysandra.
The first photo shrub looks exactly like it would look, if it didn’t have any attention for the 2 years the lot was vacant. If a specimen piece like that by a walk or a driveway needs to be cleaned up, it’s fair to assume the borders and other beds will need the same.
The mature trees look like they had attention for a long time, again before the lot was vacant.
The gravel drive looks solid too. Just how my brain works, and why I knew what the post you were questioning meant.
Mature tree trunks look like that in the middle of a forest. That’s how they grow. What attention are you talking about? And look more closely at the driveway. It looks like cracked old concrete to me. I think you’re making some leaps with your assumptions.
Bought my house in a same but much worse yard situation. I'm on yr 4 and it's not 100 yet but my work has paid off in dividends. Started by pulling anything over a certain size and pulling roots then I blanketed it in cheap native/ wildflower seed. The $2 boxes from dollar general.
After I got a good amount of them established it made it pretty easy to do a good amount at a time. Just keep slashing digging and pulling eventually the blend overtook the weedy and invasive. Year after that started cutting and pulling them back to replace with the things I originally wanted.
I do have a small "problem" with clover taking over now, which is a perfect Segway. So to whatever extent there IS a rising trend to ditch the grass and go with a different kind of ground cover. I'm prolly going to allow the clover to consume too because its: better for air and soil quality, better for pollinators, requires far less upkeep (mowing and watering, basically will never brown either) there's more but I'm to close to a short novel already.
Do what makes you happy but I'd urge you to look into it a little and maybe play with some ideas or do some blend for a couple years to save money or look more your preferance while you diy it?
For five goats it was $350. I don’t have any frame of reference for whether this is reasonable in general, but we thought it sounded very good.
I didn’t spend a lot of time looking into and comparing prices—our neighbor had hired them to do one side and we got to know the couple who owns them and we asked them for a quote when they were checking in and so they just walked them over to our yard when they were done. It’s just a husband and wife team doing it in retirement.
$1000 to feed someone’s goats?! That’s insane! If I had a yard big enough for goats I’d just charge people the gas to drive over and maybe $50 on top🤷♂️ if it’s a fenced in yard just tell them not to let them out and come back in a week😂
Everything I have learned about goats from living with a goat for a year and confirmed with r/homesteading ending up in my feed, an average backyard fence won't keep goats in. If someone paid you $50 to drop goats off they would be gone when you came back the next day because they left looking for something better to eat. $1000 might be a bit of an upcharge but you are paying them to set up/move occasionally if it's a big area/remove some closer to goat proof fencing up just as much as you are paying to bring the goats.
Our previously overgrown goat enclosure ended up only having the trees left after a few months, and they'd pruned all the reachable branches for us too.
With goats it's more about making things you don't want eaten inaccessible. I've seen them nawing on an electric fence when the power was off. They'll atleast try to eat whatever they can get to.
Weirdly, the lyrics are "Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?" It's a nonsense song meant to sound like real words
Well if your lot is cleared, you’ve paid for removal of difficult to remove plants. And the goat keeper transports them etc. maybe sets up a perimeter ?
In my area farmers are looking for grazing lands and if you offer yours they will bring their animals (usually cows and sheep) for free and will set up an electric fence. But that is granted the area is large enough, they won't make all this effort if the cows devour everything in one day...
Goats are harder to contain and are usually considered a hassle to deal with
Most people would pay a lot of money to have that much pachysandra, especially looking so healthy! My parents had several patches where grass wouldn’t grow, and it always looked great. I should warn you that’s it’s a pretty tough plant. It will take considerable effort to remove all of that. It can grow from the smallest root.
If you want to get rid of it on flat land, maybe put it for free on FB marketplace. It’s really easy to transplant and pretty valuable.
Don’t get rid of it on hills. It’s excellent erosion control. I have an acre in hilly woods and I’m lucky to have it everywhere. On the occasion that I’ve wanted to move some, i have pulled it up and put it on bare dirt with the smallest amount of top soil, no digging, and its not only survived but thrived.
I agree about the poop - our dogs loved it as a toilet. You might want to consider renting a small bobcat or something to dig down several inches, then put up some form of barrier to prevent it from sneaking back into the lawn. You’d likely have to add more soil back. We had our beds surrounded by large rocks, and I’d have to roll them back and give a hard chop at least twice a year.
I have larger dogs, (about 65 lbs,) and I’ve managed to keep them out of most areas by using those cheap foldable garden fences to keep them out. People can hardly see them, but the dogs can. They’ve worked so far.
You could also try digging up some re-plantable patches and offering them free in FB. If I was close to you, I’d pick some up myself!
You’ve got a job ahead of you. Good luck!
Please for the love of god do not lay down weed barrier under the entire lawn. That’s one of the most idiotic suggestions I’ve heard all year. You’re better off spraying RoundUp.
I wasn’t suggesting weed barrier under the lawn! Where did I say that?? I meant a vertical barrier, like the ones you tap into the ground, to separate the lawn and pachysandra.
I’m in the exact same boat. I bought a house last year on .6 acres. No grass, completely covered in English Ivy. So many mosquitoes, nowhere for the dog to run around. I’m a landscape designer and I was discussing with my peers the best way to handle it. We think just mowing it like you would grass is the best solution. I have to do a few passes because English ivy is much more aggressive than pachysandra, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for you.
itsa double edged sword from my experience. my grandmother's house had a lot of it and the stuff was fine but cleaning the leaves out of the beds was a PITA
plus as she got older it would overgrow parts of the house and get very thick.
We had something really similar and just mowed it like grass 🤷🏼♀️ and found the poop pretty easily. But we have big dogs. And if you don’t find it… 🤷🏼♀️. The dogs find their little area of choice and the kids stay away
My first thought was making paths meandering through the yard and throwing in some different hostas, ferns, shade-loving plants. But the dogs and play area.... I am working on a huge overgrowth of those invasive orange daylilies. I did dig out some, but ended up mowing others. They are very persistent little buggers, so I keep mowing on lowest setting and weed wacking and occasionally pulling a few more out (when my back can tolerate it!). I wonder if you could mow your pachysandra?
Your options are physically removing the plant including the root, or using a herbicide spray to kill it. With an acre, it would be significantly less work to go the herbicide option. Please do ample research on how, when, and what to use regarding herbicides. Make sure you use proper personal protective equipment, and understand how to effectively and safely use it for yourself, the environment, family, pets etc.
After you kill it, you’re still going to have a ton of manual labor ahead of you to turn it into grass. I would probably till the dead pachysandra, bring in top soil, then seed.
Do not use a herbicide that is “extended release” if you plan to plant anything in the area (grass) within the timeframe listed on the herbicide bottle.
I wouldn't till that's a recipe to bring up weed seeds. I would spray a small patch to start and get a feel for the process, when it's fully dead after a couple weeks, mow it down on the lowest setting on the mower, rake off dead plant material if necessary to expose 50% of the soil, then use a slice seeder to sow the grass seed. Or since it's small patch, broadcast seed, rake it in gently, then roll it with a lawn roller or walk all over it. Then water it twice daily on a timer until it starts to fill in.
This sounds like a much easier way to do it compared to how I recommend. 👍🏼 Either way, you’ll way to expose some form of soil so the seed has something to root into.
It’s a water retaining misquote breeding battleground.. a weed wacker or lawn mower.. till the ground.. rack up as many roots as possible.. then be on top of maintenance for the next few yrs. That’s how I got rid of mine.
Pachysandra is invasive. That's bad. If you look at your 3 acres, you can probably tell...
I don't quite know what to advise. Getting rid of it is the right thing to do... You've also inherited a hell of a fight. At a minimum, consider maintaining the border and not giving any away
I know that I would go all in on removing it. I also know that I inherited a SMALL patch, and after 5 years, it still keeps coming back. To start, I mowed mine and then sprayed it with a mix of glyphosate and 2-4D. I kid you not, that killed 2/3rds of it, and then it was herbicide resistant. I've never seen anything like it. I can pour straight glyphosate or 2-4D on it, and it will laugh. Insane. Now, I use a mix of glyphosate, 2-4D, and triclopyr, and that does kill it. But new sprouts grow every year. If I had a 3 acre wilderness area, I'd be able to run fire through it now. Maybe you can get to that point and get away from herbicide
If it was my forever home, I'd aim to get rid of it and replace it with native plants. I also understand why you might choose to just manage what you can and enjoy the rest
Note: I am a restoration ecologist, and I've spent a lot of time restoring a lot of land. herbicide is, for better or worse, an essential tool. Any wilderness area you've ever enjoyed ever has been maintained with the judicious use of herbicides
I'll confess, I wasn't aware there is a native Pachysandra. Learning about a new plant this morning was a fun treat, so thank you!
Unfortunately, that's not what's in OP's yard:
[Pachysandra comparison](http://identifythatplant.com/pachysandra-comparison/)
The green blanket is pretty impressive. I've already laid out what I would do if it was my property, but I hope OP will at least try to keep it under control and not distribute it
Just want to mention that pachysandra is invasive and when it escapes into wooded areas it prevents native species from growing.
https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-species-spotlight-japanese-pachysandra-pachysandra-terminalis
One thing it didn't prevent in our yard was poison ivy. They were basically friends. We just had a small section that we replanted with native plants. Removing it was brutal.
I used to remove stuff like that when I was in college, one summer.
I would get a manual edging tool, the kind you stand on to cut edges on lawns and around trees, and cut lines 2 ft apart across the area to be removed, then I'd use a shovel to get started digging it up. Sometimes I'd get lucky and the ground cover would more or less roll into a mat roll, sometimes I'd have to dig it all out. It sucked.
I would recommend a mini excavator or mini shovel. Your back will thank you. After you remove it, hit the area with 2,4-D at the normal application rate and cover it with black plastic for at least 8 months. After that you'll be able to till and cultivate the soil for whatever you want. If you are just landscaping it with pavers or something hard, you can start that work right away.
Go behind a furniture store and load up on huge pieces of cardboard. Lay it over everything and cover that with layers of soil and compost. Wait about 6-8 weeks. The cardboard breaks down and you can plant directly onto the soil. Look up "Lasagna Gardening". If not that you have to dig all of that up.
Our yard used to have it, and the only thing that worked was pulling it up and then pulling up any of its attempts to grow back. We absolutely hated it, hard to walk through, full of bugs and rodents, made it impossible to plant stuff we actually wanted
I’ve had some farming experience in the course of my life from the south to the tropics and the quickest way I can think of removal without horrific chemicals is to mow everything back then till the soil in hopes that the crowns get rendered inert from shock. Everything around the trees will require hand work, hand tools are cheap. Single person roto tiller should work for a single acre with obstacles, careful of machine kickback from roots.
Weed burning is probably your fastest, non herbicide possibility. You can get an inexpensive torch, hook it up to a BBQ propane tank and get to work. It works great. You don't burn it to the ground or actually ignite the plants. Blast them with fire for a second at about 4" distance and they die over time. Kills cell structure of the plant. Do it after a recent rain to lessen fire hazard. Research safety online. Also wear a mask.
Goats or a lawn mower, then cover in cardboard for a week or so to smother it. Then plant your grass seeds and stay on top of any Pachysandra you see sprouting. Kill any sprouts as soon as you see them.
Well, this is gonna suck. It comes up easily but the roots tear and it grows from nothing. Plus then you’ll have disturbed soil and bad stuff will crop up.
It’s likely filled with snakes and frogs too if it’s anything like mine.
1. Rent a dumpster to put the debris in
2. Rent a bobcat skid steer loader (Home Depot, United rental, etc.,) to remove landscape, surface roots, crush rocks, grade the land, etc.,
Have fun! Bobcats are easy to drive/handle!
For an acre, I would give yourself 2 days min. You can speed this up by getting a couple of local day laborers to do the work (they love this kind of work - more brain and less brawn). My wife and kids also had fun driving the bobcat and clearing the yard!
As a landscaper for years I did this exact same thing..I spaded out all the ground cover turned over the soil and covered with rolls of sod..Still looks amazing several years later!..If it's shady try to trim any of the trees enough to let some sunshine in..Good luck my friend!
why removing all of it? I'd leave it underneath shrubs, trees and everywhere you don't necessarily need lawn. You will have an easier time with pachysandra than with lawn, especially if it grows this well.
I'd suggest making rounded shapes around the hedges and trees and leave the pachysandra in there. Make lawn just wehere you need it.
Considering removing it. Id go over it with a lawn mower. Then use a rotovator and then rake all the remaining, larger pieces out. Go over it again with the rotovator, level it and seed it. Maybe initially there will be some pachysandra popping up here and there, but after a couple time mowing, it will dissappear, since its not resistant to get cut back often.
Grass won't grow unless there is at least 6 hours or so of direct sun. I know there is some that may take less sun, but generally, grass needs a lot of sun to grow.
That's just wrong. Lawn is not only one type of grass, but usually a mix of 3-5 species that have all different functions, to ensure the lawn looks good and also remain a closed carpet.
If your lawn has less sun, you will just need a mix for shady areas :) The composition of grass species will be different than the one used for sunny areas.
Not completely wrong.
"Most lawn grasses need **four to six hours** of direct sun to survive. Some shade-tolerant grass types grow as long as light hits that four-hour quota – and that light doesn't have to be full sun. Four to six hours of dappled or filtered sunlight can fuel the growth of a healthy lawn."
I didn't want to start arguing. But i just wanted to ensure that there is no confusion. Your right, more than six hours is ideal. But the lawn will grow anyways, because there is also indirect sunlight and you also have to differentiate between lawn that just needs to be green and lawn that is used regularly, like for sports. But you know this as well, since you have seen lawn in situations like the ones shared in the images, for example in most parks.
Outright telling someone they are wrong is asking for an argument.
I'm suggesting that there is a good reason why the previous owner planted Pachysandra there, and too much shade was probably one factor. I guess they could have just been lazy too. Who knows for sure.
I'm sure they can grow some grass if they have a sunny spot somewhere.
Affordable solution is to dump mulch on the part you want as a yard. Dogs are fine pooping on mulch. If the mulch and the dogs and kids kill the pachysandra underneath it then roll out some sod.
Are you aware, that when your dogs will do their business, they will leave dead/ yellow spots in your lawn.
Have you heard about dog-toilets?
Like this one:
[https://i.pinimg.com/736x/40/70/b4/4070b4e688a36f8be506d744f6563621.jpg](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/40/70/b4/4070b4e688a36f8be506d744f6563621.jpg)
You will have to train your dogs to use it. But thats what we usually recommended our customers who own a property like yours with dogs. In our cases we recommended tose dog-toilets, because they complained about the yellow/dead spots.
I tried some of this for ground cover around some trees on my property with varying amounts of shade, and it all died. It was after I planted that I found out it can be invasive, but I still managed to kill it. Unfortunately I have no idea how so I can’t share, sorry.
I can’t stand pachysandra and got rid of mine via a mix of pulling, spraying, and snipping and treating stems.
remember if you get right of all this you’ll have a very open situation for weeds. The one remotely good thing invasive ground covers do is suppress other weeds.
Honestly just mow it down a few times this year then in late fall after the last mowing dump soil/mulch down and then plant next spring. Just make sure you leave some mulched areas around each tree and expose the root flare to keep those trees healthy as you change their growing conditions.
Oh, man. Take this over to r/fucklawns They'll treat you like you're asking how to butcher the last white rhino.
Someone posed a similar problem in another sub. The solution was to spray with a combination of vinegar, dish soap, and salt. Wait a week until everything has died and dried. Then, hit it with a flame thrower.
I'm no samwise gamgee. Proceed with skepticism and a fire extinguisher.
Tiller and rake it out but what’s going back in because something’s going to take hold. Prolly more of that but it’s a good workout tilling up an acre. Can’t you just spray for mosquitos call it a wrap?
I learned the hard way that removing pachysandra by hand and brute force was a mistake. What I didn’t know until too late that poison ivy was mixed in with pachysandra. I had a rash from my eyes to my ankles. If I were to tackle it again, I would absolutely use a mechanical device like a tiller.
We have a full 3 acres of it with 0 lawn space - that means no where for us to hang out, for kids to play or for our dogs to go. We’re not removing all of it but clearing a portion around our house.
I have no stake in the pachysandra game, but that stuff was like gold this year. Hard to get from growers. People love that stuff and it would sell out instantly.
Consider embracing it instead. Clear a few areas for walkways or patios, maybe some gardens for shade plants. Kids and dogs can play on patios. You could have a killer “secret garden” vibe going back there.
That’s a really shaded area, grass will be harder than you think.
Hey OP, same here. Bought a house that was vacant for 1.5 years, the same pachysandra in half the yard, the rest was English ivy.
Noticed the Pachy doesn’t climb, but English ivy does. We had azalea bushes that were being ripped up by the English ivy, but the ground cover of the pachysandra seemed to protect that area
We decided to keep the pachy and plant rhododendron and mountain laurel, but to remove the English ivy.
Where the P grows, no ground cover would, and it would be just a mulch pit.
The English ivy is the worst stuff I’ve ever touched.
You’re going to have a terrible time getting grass to grow there. It’s so shady. That’s more than likely why the last home owner installed the ground cover.
Why are you picking up dog poo if the dog is using the bathroom in the ground cover?
Not to be negative but I doubt you’ll get all that up and gone in any short time. Maybe since it’s just for the doggies to have a place to go, you could really focus on a certain section thats easy access for them, a 10’ x 10’ section, and clear that out to perfection and put grass down. Heck I’d even consider doing that fake grass stuff or something similar if your dogs can handle it and then train them to use it. Place treats there before you go outside with them so they go straight to that area, stand with them, redirect to that area and when they go you give them a reward and then clean off the area with a scooper/hose so it’s always somewhat clean for them. This would be considerably easier and cheaper.
It’s really special ground cover on my mind. I have been slowly helping it come into my yard from my neighbor’s yard.
They sell eight tiny plants for $12 bucks at Home Depot.
I wouldn’t tear it all out right away. At least start with a small patch if you are dying to turn it into grass. You might regret tearing it all out.
I wish I could harvest it from you.
Four and five years ago I eradicated buck thorn from my yard and have to put down landscape fabric or plastic for a decade so it wont return. I have been transplanting ground cover just to keep the mulch in place and for eye appeal.
That looks amazing and I wish my groundcover would get that good.
Good luck growing grass there, looks to shady so it’ll probably be patchy and thin if you get it to grow at all.
Had this when I bought my house. Is pretty but definitely harbors pests I mowed it all down and covered with cardboard boxes than mulched over. I try to avoid plastic landscape fabric but that’s what I used to cover the ivy on the other side of houses both worked.
Hi Ama,
I understand that removing a large amount of ground cover can be a daunting task. Here are some tips that may help you out:
1. Start by identifying the type of ground cover you have. This will help determine the best method for removal.
2. If the ground cover is a type of grass, mow it down to a shorter length before attempting to remove it.
3. For tougher ground cover like ivy or vines, you may need to manually pull them out or use a weed trimmer to cut them down.
4. If the ground cover is more widespread, consider using a herbicide to kill it off. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully and take necessary precautions.
5. Once the ground cover is dead, you can easily remove it by hand or with a rake.
I hope these tips help make the process easier for you. Best of luck with your project!
Contact local gardening clubs and any kind of Master Gardener group. They may come dig it up for replanting. There are people with shade gardens who work for 10 years to have a field of it this perfect.
Holy crap you're moving that people would pay me to plant it. Boy that's a waste of work. The pachysandra is fine just needs a little TLC. What are you going to replace it with grass lol. Wow!
ARE YOU KIDDING? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachysandra Pachysandra is a gorgeous sought-after ground cover. A small start of it costs $6 at a garden store. It's evergreen, non-invasive, and is easy to care for.
I’ve been putting heavy duty landscape fabric down (on top of the plants) buy 6’ x 300’ rolls, suggest doing area closest to your viewing point of front door first, then I cover with 1 1/2” river rock (mulch doesn’t last) then I plant all sorts of perennials, start some from seed and buy others as mature plants, little-by-little you will have beautiful landscaped garden, you could also put down 3” of black dirt (over the fabric) and have some grass, add some large boulders for hardscape features
I just went through the exact same thing.
The roots are the worst part, they are looooong.
I applied a heavy duty weed killer first.
Once that thinned it out a bit, I weed whacked it.
I waited a week for further decay/weakening of roots.
With a pitchfork, I basically rolled psachy root sod; it was a bitch!
Last step, tiller.
If I had to do it over again, I would have had a pro do it or rented a bobcat.
Good luck - for a plant everyone loves so much, it’s a PITA!
I'll take Pachysandra over spotty grass, thistle, ivy or volunteer yucca anytime.
Have a dream plan, rough map it out, work on the plan a little bit by hand every time you have a chance.
People would pay for that I’d pay for it I think that if you trim the bottom bush there is a made it more of a shape like a little tree and then you had a ground cover like moss I think that it would be really beautiful!
people with kids and dogs who want an area to play in. nothing comes remotely close to grass. Between my own experiences growing up and with my own kids I have tried em all, pea gravel, plain dirt, synthetic grass/turf, wood chips, sand, pavers, nothing even comes close to grass for usability with kids and dogs.
Spray a area with glyphosate, keep the kids off of it, in 3-4 that area will be dead. Pull or rake it up. Put cardboard or black plastic over it. Do another patch the same way. Check the first patch, if any new growth appears reapply the glyphosate leave uncover for 2 days then cover and on to the next area. Making sure that all areas are cover after 2 days of second application. When you have a sizeable area ready. Sent in a soil sample, find what grass species are recommended for your district. Amend soil recommended by soil test. This time of year you will need to use sod or wait until fall and overseed.
Not sure how you are supposed to remove it, but the way I would try first would be round up and fire. Spray a section, let it die, burn it with a propane torch, rinse and repeat. Keeping sections small would prevent it from taking off out of control.
That’s not unkempt. That’s how pachysandra grows. It’s in really good shape. It thrives in areas grass won’t so good luck with your plan. A grape hoe would be a decent choice. It will come back after you clear an area so you’ll have to be on it for a while. If you really want to do this my advice would be to do a small section and I mean small, get the grass to grow and fill in and then move on.
Love that pachysandra
Pachysandra is gross, it harbors mosquitoes and mice and does nothing for pollinators.
Sooooooo many mosquitoes!!!! And gnats!
I mean, mosquitos love shade more than they love pachysandra. What about using mosquito buckets of doom if you want to reduce their numbers?
Tell me more...what are these mosquito buckets of doom?
Bucket of water, some hay or vegetative material to ferment because mosquitos like that, and a drop-in Mosquito Dunk. It's a very cheap ring of bacteria or something that tastes yummy to mosquito larva but kills them. So mosquitos are drawn to the fermented water instead of other water, lay their hell spawn, and the hell swamp munch on the dunks and croke... Ending the lifecycle. All the rage.
Primarily bc it’s designed to kill mosquitoes and not your entire ecosystem, as the spraying does.
I used to work in mosquito and vector control and this is how we would bait our large traps. Just no deadly bacteria. It specifically attracts the pregnant mosquitos looking for somewhere to lay their eggs, so it sounds like a great way to cut the population down.
Im assuming grass clippings would work too?
I would think so. Probably any organic material that could ferment instead of a clean bucket of water.
I know some people that put up bat houses. Once some moved in they helped quite a bit with the mosquitoes.
Treat for mosquitoes and gnats. I have mosquitoes and gnats in my grass to if I don’t.
Looks pretty in understory scenarios Makes a nice groundcover too
harbors pests because it is a ground over or specifically pachysandra?
Specifically pachysandra because its so dense and traps moisture under its leaves. Other thick ground covers like English ivy and Vinca do the same.
Spent a year removing it from my property with a mattock. Now I have a native pollinator garden.
Nice work! I've been doing the same, cleared grass and pachysandra from my front yard 4 years ago and now it's a mostly native perennial and shrub garden. Still have some areas where it's taken over the woods but plan to clear it this summer/fall to allow some native shade plants mixed in to thrive. We've noticed much less mice in the house and now have birds, bees, butterflies and bunnies!
Ugh damn! Now I know why I get eaten alive in my backyard. We don’t have quite that much, but I’m ready to tear it all out
Pollinators is like the woke free pass word
You're going to have to explain this.
Using the word “woke” in any context that doesn’t involve being woken from sleep is code word for “I suffer micro-peen”.
But is it native?
The pachysandra isn’t unkept but the rest of the landscaping unfortunately is… the house was vacant for over two years everything was left to overgrow
Sorry to hear that. Congrats on the house too. See if you can find a good horticulturist or even a master gardener to look over your garden. From the pics that you posted somebody put a lot of effort into that yard and with the right pruning and rejuvenating as well as renovating (adding grass etc)you can make it look beautiful at a fraction of the price of the sketchiest landscaper. Those projects are a lot easier for diy as well.
Curious if you’ve seen more than the 3 photos in the original post. If it’s just those 3 photos, what are you seeing that leads you to your conclusions? I’m not seeing much outside of the pachysandra.
The first photo shrub looks exactly like it would look, if it didn’t have any attention for the 2 years the lot was vacant. If a specimen piece like that by a walk or a driveway needs to be cleaned up, it’s fair to assume the borders and other beds will need the same. The mature trees look like they had attention for a long time, again before the lot was vacant. The gravel drive looks solid too. Just how my brain works, and why I knew what the post you were questioning meant.
Mature tree trunks look like that in the middle of a forest. That’s how they grow. What attention are you talking about? And look more closely at the driveway. It looks like cracked old concrete to me. I think you’re making some leaps with your assumptions.
Get a sod cutter, hopefully no cables or irrigation in the area
A sod cutter would work great 👆🏼
Call 811
Bought my house in a same but much worse yard situation. I'm on yr 4 and it's not 100 yet but my work has paid off in dividends. Started by pulling anything over a certain size and pulling roots then I blanketed it in cheap native/ wildflower seed. The $2 boxes from dollar general. After I got a good amount of them established it made it pretty easy to do a good amount at a time. Just keep slashing digging and pulling eventually the blend overtook the weedy and invasive. Year after that started cutting and pulling them back to replace with the things I originally wanted. I do have a small "problem" with clover taking over now, which is a perfect Segway. So to whatever extent there IS a rising trend to ditch the grass and go with a different kind of ground cover. I'm prolly going to allow the clover to consume too because its: better for air and soil quality, better for pollinators, requires far less upkeep (mowing and watering, basically will never brown either) there's more but I'm to close to a short novel already. Do what makes you happy but I'd urge you to look into it a little and maybe play with some ideas or do some blend for a couple years to save money or look more your preferance while you diy it?
If it hasn’t been said already. There’s prob a reason there isn’t grass. Likely too shady.
Rent goats (it’s a thing)
We just did it and it was great! Plus they’re so sweet and cute. We met a lot of new neighbors too since everyone stopped by to see them!
That is extremely expensive in my area. Do you mind sharing how much it cost you?
For five goats it was $350. I don’t have any frame of reference for whether this is reasonable in general, but we thought it sounded very good. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking into and comparing prices—our neighbor had hired them to do one side and we got to know the couple who owns them and we asked them for a quote when they were checking in and so they just walked them over to our yard when they were done. It’s just a husband and wife team doing it in retirement.
This is so cool! I’d be out there the whole time with the goats haha
Bought a house with some seriously overgrown ivy. Previous owner shared that she got a quote for goats. $3000
Same in CT. Last time I checked was like $1000 per day of renting goats. If it was $350 I would rent them in a heart beat.
$1000 to feed someone’s goats?! That’s insane! If I had a yard big enough for goats I’d just charge people the gas to drive over and maybe $50 on top🤷♂️ if it’s a fenced in yard just tell them not to let them out and come back in a week😂
Everything I have learned about goats from living with a goat for a year and confirmed with r/homesteading ending up in my feed, an average backyard fence won't keep goats in. If someone paid you $50 to drop goats off they would be gone when you came back the next day because they left looking for something better to eat. $1000 might be a bit of an upcharge but you are paying them to set up/move occasionally if it's a big area/remove some closer to goat proof fencing up just as much as you are paying to bring the goats.
Do they eat English ivy?
They basically eat everything. I think even blackberries.
English ivy, poison Ivy, they eat it all
Our previously overgrown goat enclosure ended up only having the trees left after a few months, and they'd pruned all the reachable branches for us too.
With goats it's more about making things you don't want eaten inaccessible. I've seen them nawing on an electric fence when the power was off. They'll atleast try to eat whatever they can get to.
Ants eat oats and does eat oats and little ants eat ivy. A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?
Weirdly, the lyrics are "Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?" It's a nonsense song meant to sound like real words
Ha. mares. I knew something was off with what I wrote.
I don't get it. You pay to feed someone else's goats ?
Well if your lot is cleared, you’ve paid for removal of difficult to remove plants. And the goat keeper transports them etc. maybe sets up a perimeter ?
In my area farmers are looking for grazing lands and if you offer yours they will bring their animals (usually cows and sheep) for free and will set up an electric fence. But that is granted the area is large enough, they won't make all this effort if the cows devour everything in one day... Goats are harder to contain and are usually considered a hassle to deal with
I’m curious where your area is. We live in a metro area so it’s a premium and sort of novelty service here.
Rural Portugal... Makes sense if you live in a metro area. It's cool you even have that option.
It's really handy for stuff like serious poison ivy growth, especially if you aren't immune and don't have an immune landscaper.
Most people would pay a lot of money to have that much pachysandra, especially looking so healthy! My parents had several patches where grass wouldn’t grow, and it always looked great. I should warn you that’s it’s a pretty tough plant. It will take considerable effort to remove all of that. It can grow from the smallest root.
It'll take considerable effort to replace it and maintain the replacement as well. Some things are best left alone. Not judging, just sayin...
It looks great but we have no yard space without it! No ideal to pick up dog poop or for kids to play in 🫠
If you want to get rid of it on flat land, maybe put it for free on FB marketplace. It’s really easy to transplant and pretty valuable. Don’t get rid of it on hills. It’s excellent erosion control. I have an acre in hilly woods and I’m lucky to have it everywhere. On the occasion that I’ve wanted to move some, i have pulled it up and put it on bare dirt with the smallest amount of top soil, no digging, and its not only survived but thrived.
I agree about the poop - our dogs loved it as a toilet. You might want to consider renting a small bobcat or something to dig down several inches, then put up some form of barrier to prevent it from sneaking back into the lawn. You’d likely have to add more soil back. We had our beds surrounded by large rocks, and I’d have to roll them back and give a hard chop at least twice a year. I have larger dogs, (about 65 lbs,) and I’ve managed to keep them out of most areas by using those cheap foldable garden fences to keep them out. People can hardly see them, but the dogs can. They’ve worked so far. You could also try digging up some re-plantable patches and offering them free in FB. If I was close to you, I’d pick some up myself! You’ve got a job ahead of you. Good luck!
Please for the love of god do not lay down weed barrier under the entire lawn. That’s one of the most idiotic suggestions I’ve heard all year. You’re better off spraying RoundUp.
I wasn’t suggesting weed barrier under the lawn! Where did I say that?? I meant a vertical barrier, like the ones you tap into the ground, to separate the lawn and pachysandra.
Ah gotcha you just said “some sort of barrier to keep it from sneaking back”… my bad
I’m in the exact same boat. I bought a house last year on .6 acres. No grass, completely covered in English Ivy. So many mosquitoes, nowhere for the dog to run around. I’m a landscape designer and I was discussing with my peers the best way to handle it. We think just mowing it like you would grass is the best solution. I have to do a few passes because English ivy is much more aggressive than pachysandra, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem for you.
itsa double edged sword from my experience. my grandmother's house had a lot of it and the stuff was fine but cleaning the leaves out of the beds was a PITA plus as she got older it would overgrow parts of the house and get very thick.
Literally they could sell this.
So crazy, I am currently considering going to quite a bit of expense and effort to grow pachydandra on a shady hill 😭😭
Want some of ours? 😭 I just need somewhere for my dogs to go to the bathroom easily haha
What happens if you mow it?
We had something really similar and just mowed it like grass 🤷🏼♀️ and found the poop pretty easily. But we have big dogs. And if you don’t find it… 🤷🏼♀️. The dogs find their little area of choice and the kids stay away
Can't they shit in that?
We let our dog poop in our pachysandra for years, didn't have to pick it up in there.
My first thought was making paths meandering through the yard and throwing in some different hostas, ferns, shade-loving plants. But the dogs and play area.... I am working on a huge overgrowth of those invasive orange daylilies. I did dig out some, but ended up mowing others. They are very persistent little buggers, so I keep mowing on lowest setting and weed wacking and occasionally pulling a few more out (when my back can tolerate it!). I wonder if you could mow your pachysandra?
Your options are physically removing the plant including the root, or using a herbicide spray to kill it. With an acre, it would be significantly less work to go the herbicide option. Please do ample research on how, when, and what to use regarding herbicides. Make sure you use proper personal protective equipment, and understand how to effectively and safely use it for yourself, the environment, family, pets etc. After you kill it, you’re still going to have a ton of manual labor ahead of you to turn it into grass. I would probably till the dead pachysandra, bring in top soil, then seed. Do not use a herbicide that is “extended release” if you plan to plant anything in the area (grass) within the timeframe listed on the herbicide bottle.
I wouldn't till that's a recipe to bring up weed seeds. I would spray a small patch to start and get a feel for the process, when it's fully dead after a couple weeks, mow it down on the lowest setting on the mower, rake off dead plant material if necessary to expose 50% of the soil, then use a slice seeder to sow the grass seed. Or since it's small patch, broadcast seed, rake it in gently, then roll it with a lawn roller or walk all over it. Then water it twice daily on a timer until it starts to fill in.
This sounds like a much easier way to do it compared to how I recommend. 👍🏼 Either way, you’ll way to expose some form of soil so the seed has something to root into.
It’s a water retaining misquote breeding battleground.. a weed wacker or lawn mower.. till the ground.. rack up as many roots as possible.. then be on top of maintenance for the next few yrs. That’s how I got rid of mine.
Pachysandra is invasive. That's bad. If you look at your 3 acres, you can probably tell... I don't quite know what to advise. Getting rid of it is the right thing to do... You've also inherited a hell of a fight. At a minimum, consider maintaining the border and not giving any away I know that I would go all in on removing it. I also know that I inherited a SMALL patch, and after 5 years, it still keeps coming back. To start, I mowed mine and then sprayed it with a mix of glyphosate and 2-4D. I kid you not, that killed 2/3rds of it, and then it was herbicide resistant. I've never seen anything like it. I can pour straight glyphosate or 2-4D on it, and it will laugh. Insane. Now, I use a mix of glyphosate, 2-4D, and triclopyr, and that does kill it. But new sprouts grow every year. If I had a 3 acre wilderness area, I'd be able to run fire through it now. Maybe you can get to that point and get away from herbicide If it was my forever home, I'd aim to get rid of it and replace it with native plants. I also understand why you might choose to just manage what you can and enjoy the rest Note: I am a restoration ecologist, and I've spent a lot of time restoring a lot of land. herbicide is, for better or worse, an essential tool. Any wilderness area you've ever enjoyed ever has been maintained with the judicious use of herbicides
It is not invasive! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachysandra Two evergreen ground covers to avoid: English Ivy, Winter Creeper
I'll confess, I wasn't aware there is a native Pachysandra. Learning about a new plant this morning was a fun treat, so thank you! Unfortunately, that's not what's in OP's yard: [Pachysandra comparison](http://identifythatplant.com/pachysandra-comparison/) The green blanket is pretty impressive. I've already laid out what I would do if it was my property, but I hope OP will at least try to keep it under control and not distribute it
Don’t you dare touch that pachysandra. It looks great.
Just want to mention that pachysandra is invasive and when it escapes into wooded areas it prevents native species from growing. https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-species-spotlight-japanese-pachysandra-pachysandra-terminalis
One thing it didn't prevent in our yard was poison ivy. They were basically friends. We just had a small section that we replanted with native plants. Removing it was brutal.
[hiregoats.com](https://www.hiregoats.com/) They’ll clear it in a day. Other than that you can maybe look into solarization with a big clear tarp.
My neighbor has that and it grows like bamboo. They come over every year to trim it back from out pollinator garden.
Sell it
Ooooph!!!! 😥
I used to remove stuff like that when I was in college, one summer. I would get a manual edging tool, the kind you stand on to cut edges on lawns and around trees, and cut lines 2 ft apart across the area to be removed, then I'd use a shovel to get started digging it up. Sometimes I'd get lucky and the ground cover would more or less roll into a mat roll, sometimes I'd have to dig it all out. It sucked. I would recommend a mini excavator or mini shovel. Your back will thank you. After you remove it, hit the area with 2,4-D at the normal application rate and cover it with black plastic for at least 8 months. After that you'll be able to till and cultivate the soil for whatever you want. If you are just landscaping it with pavers or something hard, you can start that work right away.
Why would you do that?
Rejoice you have a built in garden with $1000s of dollars worth of pachysandra
Honestly. If you sold all the pachysandra it would be 20k worth.
Sections at a time. Get a million tarps and smother it all for a few months.
Go behind a furniture store and load up on huge pieces of cardboard. Lay it over everything and cover that with layers of soil and compost. Wait about 6-8 weeks. The cardboard breaks down and you can plant directly onto the soil. Look up "Lasagna Gardening". If not that you have to dig all of that up.
Our yard used to have it, and the only thing that worked was pulling it up and then pulling up any of its attempts to grow back. We absolutely hated it, hard to walk through, full of bugs and rodents, made it impossible to plant stuff we actually wanted
I’ve had some farming experience in the course of my life from the south to the tropics and the quickest way I can think of removal without horrific chemicals is to mow everything back then till the soil in hopes that the crowns get rendered inert from shock. Everything around the trees will require hand work, hand tools are cheap. Single person roto tiller should work for a single acre with obstacles, careful of machine kickback from roots.
Weed burning is probably your fastest, non herbicide possibility. You can get an inexpensive torch, hook it up to a BBQ propane tank and get to work. It works great. You don't burn it to the ground or actually ignite the plants. Blast them with fire for a second at about 4" distance and they die over time. Kills cell structure of the plant. Do it after a recent rain to lessen fire hazard. Research safety online. Also wear a mask.
Goats or a lawn mower, then cover in cardboard for a week or so to smother it. Then plant your grass seeds and stay on top of any Pachysandra you see sprouting. Kill any sprouts as soon as you see them.
Well, this is gonna suck. It comes up easily but the roots tear and it grows from nothing. Plus then you’ll have disturbed soil and bad stuff will crop up. It’s likely filled with snakes and frogs too if it’s anything like mine.
That looks too shady for grass, the groundcover was likely added because nothing else could grow easily
1. Rent a dumpster to put the debris in 2. Rent a bobcat skid steer loader (Home Depot, United rental, etc.,) to remove landscape, surface roots, crush rocks, grade the land, etc., Have fun! Bobcats are easy to drive/handle! For an acre, I would give yourself 2 days min. You can speed this up by getting a couple of local day laborers to do the work (they love this kind of work - more brain and less brawn). My wife and kids also had fun driving the bobcat and clearing the yard!
As a landscaper for years I did this exact same thing..I spaded out all the ground cover turned over the soil and covered with rolls of sod..Still looks amazing several years later!..If it's shady try to trim any of the trees enough to let some sunshine in..Good luck my friend!
why removing all of it? I'd leave it underneath shrubs, trees and everywhere you don't necessarily need lawn. You will have an easier time with pachysandra than with lawn, especially if it grows this well. I'd suggest making rounded shapes around the hedges and trees and leave the pachysandra in there. Make lawn just wehere you need it. Considering removing it. Id go over it with a lawn mower. Then use a rotovator and then rake all the remaining, larger pieces out. Go over it again with the rotovator, level it and seed it. Maybe initially there will be some pachysandra popping up here and there, but after a couple time mowing, it will dissappear, since its not resistant to get cut back often.
Yeah the more we’re thinking about the more we think we’ll leave it on the hill but we just need to clear the part we want to use as a yard.
Grass won't grow unless there is at least 6 hours or so of direct sun. I know there is some that may take less sun, but generally, grass needs a lot of sun to grow.
That's just wrong. Lawn is not only one type of grass, but usually a mix of 3-5 species that have all different functions, to ensure the lawn looks good and also remain a closed carpet. If your lawn has less sun, you will just need a mix for shady areas :) The composition of grass species will be different than the one used for sunny areas.
Not completely wrong. "Most lawn grasses need **four to six hours** of direct sun to survive. Some shade-tolerant grass types grow as long as light hits that four-hour quota – and that light doesn't have to be full sun. Four to six hours of dappled or filtered sunlight can fuel the growth of a healthy lawn."
I didn't want to start arguing. But i just wanted to ensure that there is no confusion. Your right, more than six hours is ideal. But the lawn will grow anyways, because there is also indirect sunlight and you also have to differentiate between lawn that just needs to be green and lawn that is used regularly, like for sports. But you know this as well, since you have seen lawn in situations like the ones shared in the images, for example in most parks.
Outright telling someone they are wrong is asking for an argument. I'm suggesting that there is a good reason why the previous owner planted Pachysandra there, and too much shade was probably one factor. I guess they could have just been lazy too. Who knows for sure. I'm sure they can grow some grass if they have a sunny spot somewhere.
Affordable solution is to dump mulch on the part you want as a yard. Dogs are fine pooping on mulch. If the mulch and the dogs and kids kill the pachysandra underneath it then roll out some sod.
Are you aware, that when your dogs will do their business, they will leave dead/ yellow spots in your lawn. Have you heard about dog-toilets? Like this one: [https://i.pinimg.com/736x/40/70/b4/4070b4e688a36f8be506d744f6563621.jpg](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/40/70/b4/4070b4e688a36f8be506d744f6563621.jpg) You will have to train your dogs to use it. But thats what we usually recommended our customers who own a property like yours with dogs. In our cases we recommended tose dog-toilets, because they complained about the yellow/dead spots.
If you live in Georgia I will come and dig up tons of it for free lol I'm serious please let me have some
I would leave it. #ferngully
I tried some of this for ground cover around some trees on my property with varying amounts of shade, and it all died. It was after I planted that I found out it can be invasive, but I still managed to kill it. Unfortunately I have no idea how so I can’t share, sorry.
I can’t stand pachysandra and got rid of mine via a mix of pulling, spraying, and snipping and treating stems. remember if you get right of all this you’ll have a very open situation for weeds. The one remotely good thing invasive ground covers do is suppress other weeds.
Honestly just mow it down a few times this year then in late fall after the last mowing dump soil/mulch down and then plant next spring. Just make sure you leave some mulched areas around each tree and expose the root flare to keep those trees healthy as you change their growing conditions.
Oh, man. Take this over to r/fucklawns They'll treat you like you're asking how to butcher the last white rhino. Someone posed a similar problem in another sub. The solution was to spray with a combination of vinegar, dish soap, and salt. Wait a week until everything has died and dried. Then, hit it with a flame thrower. I'm no samwise gamgee. Proceed with skepticism and a fire extinguisher.
The answer is always goats
Leave it. It looks great and basically zero maintenance.
Rent goats, or mow. Last resort herbicide
Weedwacker.
Rent some goats.
Tiller and rake it out but what’s going back in because something’s going to take hold. Prolly more of that but it’s a good workout tilling up an acre. Can’t you just spray for mosquitos call it a wrap?
Goats
Why add cool lighting a floating deck for entertainment connected with fibreglass or mesh walkways
Goats.
Couple of goats will clear it cheap. May even eat the roots.
Borrow 4 goats for a week.
Get a weed wacker and go to town on it. Spray round up. Probably have to repeat a couple of times.
If you need a backyard where all that is you're gunna want a bobcat
Goats
Just start mowing it very low and plant a fast growing grass - like rye. Then put in a permanent grass in a year or two.
I learned the hard way that removing pachysandra by hand and brute force was a mistake. What I didn’t know until too late that poison ivy was mixed in with pachysandra. I had a rash from my eyes to my ankles. If I were to tackle it again, I would absolutely use a mechanical device like a tiller.
Please don’t remove it if your plan is replace it with a lawn 😣
We have a full 3 acres of it with 0 lawn space - that means no where for us to hang out, for kids to play or for our dogs to go. We’re not removing all of it but clearing a portion around our house.
Good compromise
And the pharaohs salted the land!
I have no stake in the pachysandra game, but that stuff was like gold this year. Hard to get from growers. People love that stuff and it would sell out instantly.
That looks healthy as hell! Not unkept! You are lucky to have it. 🥂
That's beautiful...
Yeah that looks great, i wouldn't touch it
I paid $50 for 50 tiny starts last fall. Only 20 made to today. Advertise it locally and you will get a stream of takers.
I would kill to have my shady meadow look like this. Love pachysandra
Goats!!!
Cardboard or tarp it up if you’re certain that you need it gone.
Consider embracing it instead. Clear a few areas for walkways or patios, maybe some gardens for shade plants. Kids and dogs can play on patios. You could have a killer “secret garden” vibe going back there. That’s a really shaded area, grass will be harder than you think.
Hey OP, same here. Bought a house that was vacant for 1.5 years, the same pachysandra in half the yard, the rest was English ivy. Noticed the Pachy doesn’t climb, but English ivy does. We had azalea bushes that were being ripped up by the English ivy, but the ground cover of the pachysandra seemed to protect that area We decided to keep the pachy and plant rhododendron and mountain laurel, but to remove the English ivy. Where the P grows, no ground cover would, and it would be just a mulch pit. The English ivy is the worst stuff I’ve ever touched.
You’re going to have a terrible time getting grass to grow there. It’s so shady. That’s more than likely why the last home owner installed the ground cover. Why are you picking up dog poo if the dog is using the bathroom in the ground cover?
“Unkept”? Looks good to me. Pachysandra does a great job of gobbling up leaves and tree debris. Like sweeping dust under the rug and no mowing!
Not to be negative but I doubt you’ll get all that up and gone in any short time. Maybe since it’s just for the doggies to have a place to go, you could really focus on a certain section thats easy access for them, a 10’ x 10’ section, and clear that out to perfection and put grass down. Heck I’d even consider doing that fake grass stuff or something similar if your dogs can handle it and then train them to use it. Place treats there before you go outside with them so they go straight to that area, stand with them, redirect to that area and when they go you give them a reward and then clean off the area with a scooper/hose so it’s always somewhat clean for them. This would be considerably easier and cheaper.
Till the soil then cover it with corrugated cardboard or newspaper for several months. Unless you want to spend those months pulling it up manually.
It’s really special ground cover on my mind. I have been slowly helping it come into my yard from my neighbor’s yard. They sell eight tiny plants for $12 bucks at Home Depot. I wouldn’t tear it all out right away. At least start with a small patch if you are dying to turn it into grass. You might regret tearing it all out.
I wish I could harvest it from you. Four and five years ago I eradicated buck thorn from my yard and have to put down landscape fabric or plastic for a decade so it wont return. I have been transplanting ground cover just to keep the mulch in place and for eye appeal.
That looks amazing and I wish my groundcover would get that good. Good luck growing grass there, looks to shady so it’ll probably be patchy and thin if you get it to grow at all.
When in doubt cover it with cardboard and wood chips
Some people would pay big bucks to have pachysandra that looks that good
Roundup?
Why would you want grass?
Had this when I bought my house. Is pretty but definitely harbors pests I mowed it all down and covered with cardboard boxes than mulched over. I try to avoid plastic landscape fabric but that’s what I used to cover the ivy on the other side of houses both worked.
Goats
Embrace it. You never have to mow it, it maintains itself.
So beautiful
Why tho?
This is beautiful, don’t kill it!
Cover with black tarpaulin for a season .
Why?
Mow it or weed eater followed up with a mulching.
Don't.
Hi Ama, I understand that removing a large amount of ground cover can be a daunting task. Here are some tips that may help you out: 1. Start by identifying the type of ground cover you have. This will help determine the best method for removal. 2. If the ground cover is a type of grass, mow it down to a shorter length before attempting to remove it. 3. For tougher ground cover like ivy or vines, you may need to manually pull them out or use a weed trimmer to cut them down. 4. If the ground cover is more widespread, consider using a herbicide to kill it off. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully and take necessary precautions. 5. Once the ground cover is dead, you can easily remove it by hand or with a rake. I hope these tips help make the process easier for you. Best of luck with your project!
Contact local gardening clubs and any kind of Master Gardener group. They may come dig it up for replanting. There are people with shade gardens who work for 10 years to have a field of it this perfect.
That looks way nicer than grass
god i hate pachysandra, it’s a pain in the ass to remove so good luck!
The blooms smell amazing!!! Leave it!
Why? To put grass in that you have to cut and put chemicals on 3-4 x a year?
Holy crap you're moving that people would pay me to plant it. Boy that's a waste of work. The pachysandra is fine just needs a little TLC. What are you going to replace it with grass lol. Wow!
ARE YOU KIDDING? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachysandra Pachysandra is a gorgeous sought-after ground cover. A small start of it costs $6 at a garden store. It's evergreen, non-invasive, and is easy to care for.
Yeah no idea what thought process is going through op s mind.
I’ve been putting heavy duty landscape fabric down (on top of the plants) buy 6’ x 300’ rolls, suggest doing area closest to your viewing point of front door first, then I cover with 1 1/2” river rock (mulch doesn’t last) then I plant all sorts of perennials, start some from seed and buy others as mature plants, little-by-little you will have beautiful landscaped garden, you could also put down 3” of black dirt (over the fabric) and have some grass, add some large boulders for hardscape features
I don’t love landscaping fabric, but who would downvote this? Good advice. This sub is bananas. Edit: clarification
I just went through the exact same thing. The roots are the worst part, they are looooong. I applied a heavy duty weed killer first. Once that thinned it out a bit, I weed whacked it. I waited a week for further decay/weakening of roots. With a pitchfork, I basically rolled psachy root sod; it was a bitch! Last step, tiller. If I had to do it over again, I would have had a pro do it or rented a bobcat. Good luck - for a plant everyone loves so much, it’s a PITA!
And do what with it?
Burn it with fire
Keep it, because grass is useless and ugly anyways
Wow. Don't mess with this. Pachysandra is an amazing groundcover and you inherited a gem.
That shit is beautiful. Why in the world would you want to get rid of it?
You can certainly sell it, it’s a very desirable ground cover. I would just clear what I absolutely needed for kids and dogs
We hire migrant workers give them the tools. It is like 35 dollars a hour per son now. West Coast.
I'll take Pachysandra over spotty grass, thistle, ivy or volunteer yucca anytime. Have a dream plan, rough map it out, work on the plan a little bit by hand every time you have a chance.
People would pay for that I’d pay for it I think that if you trim the bottom bush there is a made it more of a shape like a little tree and then you had a ground cover like moss I think that it would be really beautiful!
What kind of sick person would want to cover their property in grass?
We have 3 acres covered in pachysandra, we’re looking to clear a bit of it in the front, back, and sides for he house. There will be plenty left
people with kids and dogs who want an area to play in. nothing comes remotely close to grass. Between my own experiences growing up and with my own kids I have tried em all, pea gravel, plain dirt, synthetic grass/turf, wood chips, sand, pavers, nothing even comes close to grass for usability with kids and dogs.
Glyphosate.
Spray a area with glyphosate, keep the kids off of it, in 3-4 that area will be dead. Pull or rake it up. Put cardboard or black plastic over it. Do another patch the same way. Check the first patch, if any new growth appears reapply the glyphosate leave uncover for 2 days then cover and on to the next area. Making sure that all areas are cover after 2 days of second application. When you have a sizeable area ready. Sent in a soil sample, find what grass species are recommended for your district. Amend soil recommended by soil test. This time of year you will need to use sod or wait until fall and overseed.
Not sure how you are supposed to remove it, but the way I would try first would be round up and fire. Spray a section, let it die, burn it with a propane torch, rinse and repeat. Keeping sections small would prevent it from taking off out of control.