Hi Janet and welcome to GoY. You can grow ornamental climbers up the wall. Fruit and veg would need to be grown in a bed... So aspect and where are you?

you'll have to dig and find out how established and far reaching the roots are....

The ivy itself won't hurt the veg, but if the bed is full of roots they will impoverish the soil so the veg won't grow very well. Which I guess is what Karen was saying...

...exactly what I meant, Steragram. It can take ages to get out all the roots...and if they're rampant, you're left with very poor soil...nothing that can't be fixed though, with a bit of hard work lol!

Many thanks for your answers. I'll keep an eye on those roots