I can see some of the thinking that goes with the card-board people, even though most is not real card-board but kimmsr has a point about what that can do to soil. I trying to put anything in the garden that did not come from a garden or farm. I use small bails, which in the mid-west with a little search can easily be bought for two buck each. I never use loose straw or hay, except that which is left over after slicing the bail into squares about one to three inches thick depending on size of area or number of bales I have. This will control weeds as well as card-board and recyle much better. If the few weeds that pop up between the slices is a problem that one may have lazy streak that is getting a bit too large while at the same time a little wheat, oats or what ever is easily controlled most of the time. I even used unthreshed rye bails and either cut or left the growing rye go for a look see. I guess if one thinks dealing with card-board is easier have at it but it just seems odd as it is harder on the soil than the weeds.

Lesa, I feel your pain, both literally and figuratively. I had the same exact experience when we moved into our house. I had to rake off a hugely thick layer of mulch in various stages of decomposition, lift a couple of hostas I wanted to keep but move, and then pull out a double layer of landscape fabric. Below that I found that they (or an owner previous to them) had tossed a bunch of 6"-12" boulders, plus an assortment of various shaped pavers in no particular pattern. Below that I found the occasional pile of playground sand. Mixed in with all of this were things like forgotten trowels and other hand tools, a couple of old landscape lights, a bunch of plant tags from perennials long lost, and a long piece of plastic edging that, as far as I can tell from the way it was doubled-up on itself, had either shifted dramatically or never really edged anything. It was backbreaking work, and I'm sure my new neighbor heard me cursing the former homeowners more than once. The good news is that I pulled up enough boulders to make a nice rock edging for several of my beds. The bad news is that I still occasionally find a boulder or a stray piece of landscape fabric when I go to plant something else. What I did was to first rake off as much mulch as I could onto a large tarp. The top layer was pretty easy, but it gets harder as you work your way down and as the mulch has basically turned to soil. I dragged it to another section of the yard where I piled it up and let it further compost. Some of it I reused. Then, I lifted and moved the plants I wanted to keep, and lifted and tossed the ones I didn't. Next, using a hawksbill knife (you could use a linoleum knife), I found an edge of landscape fabric, lifted it up, and reached under with my other hand as far as I could and cut out large sections and pulled them up. There was still some soil/decomposed mulch on it, so it was hard work. Then I just repeated that process until I was confident I got most of it out. Like I said, I still find the occasional small piece that works it's way up. If you are able to scrape all the mulch off, you will have better access to the fabric. I wasn't able to, so I did the best I could. After that I worked in lots of organic material into the soil, which was in really bad shape after being covered by that fabric for so many years. Then I did my planting and laid down a much thinner layer of mulch. I didn't find that I got many old weed seeds that germinated. My main issue with weeds is the creeping charlie that comes through my fence from the adjacent park and the goutweed that my neighbor planted as ground cover. I keep telling myself that one day I'm going to lean over the fence and pour a bucket of Roundup on her "Snow on the Mountain" but I never do.

I use Milorganite in the spring as well, for summer and fall I use the Scott's Turfbuilder product designed for that season. I am by no means a lawn expert though, these are just easy to find, relatively inexpensive products that do the job well enough for me. I'm confident you could kill the ivy (and not your trees) if you have the time and patience. Again I'd suggest trying the Weed B Gon Chickweed Clover & Oxalis concentrate in an Ortho Dial N' Spray hose end sprayer. Just pick a calm day and get down low to avoid spraying the tree trunks and leaves. If the ivy is anything like wild violet it will take a couple of applications but it will work eventually. Then like you mentioned you'll have to rake out the dead ivy and reseed the bare patches. But as others have said, a weed-free (or even weed sparse) lawn is a huge commitment so I don't blame you for hiring it out--if you can find someone to call you back. Last thing I'll say is that no matter how diligent you are about your own lawn, if your neighbors aren't equally diligent you will always have some of their dandelions, clover, ivy, etc. filtering into your lawn. So I've lowered my expectations and live with a semi-weed free lawn after 13+ years at my current house.

The first year we created our veggie patch, which is about 2000 sq ft, I put down mulch and battled weeds ALL SUMMER. It was a FRIGGIN' NIGHTMARE!! So, as much as I detest landscape fabric in planting beds, I wised up and put down the fabric on the walking paths and non-planted areas (e.g. behind the fruit trees and brambles fence). Made my life so much easier last summer, I actually looked forward to putzing around out there rather than thinking "oh cr@p gotta spend the afternoon pulling weeds again". I topped off the fabric with straw, which hides the fabric and delineates paths from planting beds (no raised beds), so it looks pretty good. I really hate the stuff in planting areas, never use the stuff there. I will say, though, the idea about using it in the melon patch is a good one, and I might do that, I did have a fair amount of weeds between the melon rows -- I can cut pieces of the correct length, put it down in a temporary fashion with those earth staple thingies, then just roll up at the end of the season and move somewhere else next year (crop rotation). I used cardboard in a similar fashion between squash rows last year, same principal, but I don't have any big cardboard boxes right now, plus if it doesn't fully decompose by the following season it might be a bit of pain to deal with it when planting in the spring (I haven't been out there yet, so not sure if the stuff fully broke down -- will find out in a couple weeks). I ordered the Viogoro stuff from Home Depot, it got great reviews and I have to say I was impressed how thick it was. I'm not sure how it differs from anything available in the store, but I was really happy with the product I received.