Grass in an ivy bank
By Gadabout
United Kingdom 
We have a lovely ivy-covered bank fronting the road outside our house. Last year or the one before a few clumps of grass appeared. We have tried uprooting but this just seems to make matters worse (pruning it I guess !). What can we do to get rid of the grass? Is there a weedkiller that would kill the grass without harming the ivy. All and any ideas welcome. Thanks one and all.
17 Aug, 2009
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You have a real problem there as it is difficult to treat the grass without affecting the ivy...but very worth while. I have just had a look on the RHS site and they are recommending Glyphosate based weedkillers being used at this time of year. You need to protect the ivy and paint the grasses with the chemical - either with the spray or with the aerosol which they say is more accurate. I placed polythene over the plants I wanted to be safe and then used the chemical and wore gloves and bruised the grass and painted them by hand..that way really keeping damage to a minumum...and it worked!
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1004/couchgrasscontrol.asp
18 Aug, 2009