How to Grow Ivy
Growing the prolific ivy plant will convince you that you have a green thumb while adding fresh beauty around your house, indoors and outdoors.
Instructions
- Step 1: Select ivy plants Select ivy plants, choosing small-leaf varieties to grow ivy indoors and the English or Boston ivy for groundcovers or to grow outdoors on a brick wall or trellis.
- TIP: Ivy may be propagated from cuttings by placing tip cuttings in a jar of water until roots appear, then planting.
- Step 2: Fill container Fill a container with a little gravel, then add a rich potting soil to grow ivy indoors, placing your plant in a cool, sunny place and watering it regularly.
- Step 3: Pick an outdoor location Pick an outdoor location to grow ivy where your plant will receive at least four hours of sun daily, and where it will have a trellis, fence or brick wall to climb.
- TIP: Ivy clings to surfaces with suckers that attach to objects which allow them to climb.
- Step 4: Prepare soil Prepare the soil, making sure it is rich and that it will provide your ivy adequate drainage.
- Step 5: Plant Plant your ivy in the ground, covering the root ball with soil, and then pack down the soil around the plant.
- TIP: Pinch back the ivy tips to grow bushier plants.
- Step 6: Keep soil moist Keep the soil around your ivy moist for the first few weeks. Then wait and watch your plants take over, providing a green cover for walls, the ground or even ugly old pipes.
- FACT: Boston Ivy is also known as Japanese Ivy and is native to Eastern Asia.
You Will Need
- Ivy plants
- Gravel
- Garden or potting soil
- Cool
- sunny location
- Trellis
- fence or brick wall
- Adequate drainage
- Water
