Kate....I'm in NC but this is a very helpful website for info - www.turffiles.ncsu.edu. Also, check out the website www.lebsea.com. They are out of PA & I can personally attest to the quality of their products. Shoot them an e-mail explaining your dilema & I'm sure they will have recommedations. I certainly don't have any concrete answers to the ground ivy problem you've got. I'd apply a weed killer (I've seen several that claimed to kill ground ivy) several times until I saw the results I wanted. And if the product I was using wasn't giving me results I'd try something else. And depending on the ivy/grass ratio I might even spray roundup several times. And, you've got all summer to rake & pull out as much of the dead/dying ivy as possible. The key is to hit the yard hard in the fall with aeration & a heavy overseeding of TTTF using the practices gained from the NCSU site & in talking to others. Obviously the denser the stand of grass the less room there is for the ivy to grow. Then in the spring you can apply a combination fertilizer/pre-emergent product to help keep the ivy from coming back. Hey, I have absolutely no affiliation at all with Lebsea but I know those are the products the best golf courses & most expensive neighborhoods use in my area. That was what made me choose them for my yard & I couldn't be more happy. I have a very hard time believing there aren't control products out there that can't be effective against ground ivy, if applied when it's growing & at the proper rate for multiple applications. Anyway, hope this helps in some small way & best of luck in getting the lawn you want.

El, Not knowing your house water system layout and how you have done your irrigation take off from it, I could only makes a guess as to what is happening. The refrigerator ice maker is usually tapped onto a copper waterline stub coming from the wall behind the refrigerator. It should be part of the line that your outside house faucet line comes from. Are your front yard and backyard on two different water sources. I would expect you to have problems with other appliances and faucets in your house. Are you experiencing more air in your water? My recommendation at his point is to have a plumber/irrigation installer or anyone that can troubleshoot your water system. I would end up recommending something they would do very quickly but you may find difficult. I would take pressure readings at different points in your system. You may have a defective pressure regulator. Has the pressure at at your indoor faucets and washing machine gone down? Remove your irrigation connection and test the pressure and flow from that point. Remove the closest head to the each front yard zone valve and turn on each front zones. Listen and observe what happens at those removed irrigation heads. A slight hissing noise can either be a suction or too much air in the water. Either way it bodes that there may be a leak before the valves. The main idea I am trying to say is to check your water mainline sources. Your house is not old enough to have serious constriction of your waterlines from calcium build up. Hope you solve your problem and have a Happy New Year. JMHO Aloha

It takes another gardener to know how one feels, not just about the joys, but about the tragedies, too! And you know what they say... what doesn't kill us only serves to make us stronger! Your former plant-sitter obviously isn't a gardener... if she were, she'd understand how important all the work you've done to your yard is to you! She doesn't care about flora and fauna... she cares only about the money she can make pretending to look after it all while her clients are vacationing. Those kinds of people have empty souls... they're miserable people deep down inside, and we should really pity them... they never really see the beauty of nature around them, they'll never experience the emotion that a special flower in bloom can bring, and they'll never feel one with nature or experience the deep sense of accomplishment that working with nature brings. I've seen so many people like that, being in the dog breeding business as we are... people who look at plants and animals and only see the monetary value... it's sad, really. When spring rolls around again, you're welcome to divisions, cuttings, young stock... whatever I have... of any of the multitude of perennials and shrubs in my gardens! I have Daylilies (both named and unnamed), iris (named and unnamed), columbine, rudbeckia, echinacea, hostas (named and unnamed), ferns (most named), heuchera (all named), monarda in 3 colors, roses (named and unnamed, large and miniature), and a plethora of other perennials and shrubs, the list too long to pull out of my memory at this moment in time! I'm not even through my first cup of coffee yet! You have all winter to think about it, though... and you pretty much know what my gardens contain due to all the photos I've posted! There are some things that didn't make the photos, but I'll have a more detailed listing by then. I've always felt that the most beautiful and precious of plants come from the gardens of our friends. Gardening is for sharing! If not, then why grow all this beauty? Surely not to hoard for ones self! It can only be enjoyed fully if we share the beauty with others! I sure wish your yard could have shared in all the rain we've gotten lately! Last year, this area of the country was low on precipitation, but we're surely making up for it this year! Not a week has gone by since spring that we haven't had at least one storm with an inch of rain! I've only had to run the soaker hoses once so far this season... last year, they ran constantly, it seems! In fact, we had more thunder storms last night! Larry and I stood out in the garage and watched the lightening flash across the sky... the light show was incredible! The flashes were both orange and white-hot! Some were in the distance, but some were pretty close! Some flashes were like long bony fingers of orange reaching across the heavens and branching out, and others were thick blue-white spikes that tore from the clouds and shot straight to the ground! The thunder constantly rumbled, and it boomed loudly when a bolt hit close by! The accompanying rain was at times soft and light, and then it would downpour for a bit before tapering off to sprinkle again... it was an awesome storm! I'm always awed by nature! Remember when you were a kid... and you were kind of scared of thunder storms? My Dad would kneel with us, backwards on the couch, facing the huge picture windows in our living room, and every time a lightening bolt would flash, we'd count... one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand, like that... until the thunder sounded... and then my Dad would say, "See? That one was only 3 miles away!" And he would explain to us how heat lightening was generated, how rain formed in the clouds, the cycle of rain to ground water, and all those things you want to know about when you're a little kid... and before we knew it, the storm would pass... and we wouldn't be afraid anymore. But I digress... Sometimes, there are opportunities hidden in the guise of disaster... I agree with Lizalily... this is actually a good opportunity to think about getting those few plants that you've wanted, but just haven't had room for, or just haven't ordered yet. It's also a good time to think in terms of water conservation... planting things that can tolerate a bit of dry. If you plan on taking several trips during the summers, laying out a plan of irrigation, and drought tolerant plantings for the areas that won't be irrigated, might be something to think about. Things like ornamental grasses and sedums can really be eye catching, and once established, they don't require much in the way of watering! I was all set to do some digging yesterday... to get some divisions ready to ship out... and the rains began! I suppose that's actually good, though... the divisions will be good and hydrated now, and should ship well with a lot less stress. The rain only set me back in seed collecting, saturating the pods. That will have to wait a few days, while the sun dries everything out. But, by this afternoon, the garden soil should be just about right for digging, and I can get some much needed dividing done! I did get lucky in that I got several perennials planted before the rains arrived yesterday! The rains gave the new plantings a good, deep drink! Well... I think that between Lizalily, Kitty, myself, and others... you'll be swimming in pass-along plants and divisions and cuttings for your gardens next spring! Put together a list of the colors and heights you're looking for, perennials and shrubs, seeds, and anything else you think you might want to add to your beautiful beds, and we'll all keep our shovels and pruning clippers clean, sharpened and at the ready! And by next summer, you're gardens will be so gorgeous, you won't have to go anywhere else for a vacation... your back yard will be a paradise!

This may not be what you want to hear, but ivy is considered an invasive species and shouldn't be encouraged. What about a nice mulch pathway going up to and around the tree? Perhaps a bench to sit on under the tree would be nice. Low maintenance, attractive, and non-invasive.