Chris Meech wrote:
Hi,
First post and am as green as ....
Renovating very neglected garden. Basically digging practically
everything up and starting again. Lots of ivy with vicious roots. Do
ivy roots work like weeds? i.e. if I leave a bit will the ivy grow
again? If, as I suspect, they will how do I kill the stumps that are
left under the soil and which I can't pull up? Same question applies
to various shrubs whose roots seem to go to Australia, can I just
leave them a foot or so below the surface? Husband is warbling on
about copper nails????
Thanks
Chris

Ivy's usually easy enough to dig out with a fork, as it doesn't root
deeply. But, yes, there is a danger of leaving viable bits behind; but,
again, these will be easy enough to pull out when they shoot.

Forget about copper nails: they're quite expensive, and won't kill
anything you can actually hammer a nail into. If you really don't like
the shrubs you've got, you should be safe to leave a bit of root behind
with most species: the ones to watch are the ones which reproduce by
suckers, which you can recognise by their habit of, er...reproducing by
suckers!

--
Mike.