I may be wrong, but I believe Round Up enters the plant while it is photsynthesizing so you pretty much have to have the leaves available for it to work. I sprayed my weed-infested non-grass areas (formerly known as planting beds) and then, one day, when I wasn't looking, the husband weed-whaked all the brown stuff down. I thought I'd have to do everything all over again, but as it turns out, he did me a favour. I put mulch down on top and now I just hand pull anything green that shouldn't be there. Well, except for a few things which kind of grew while I wasn't looking. I'll try pulling them and if that doesn't work, then I'll take the Round Up to them again and then pull them out. hth

an unglazed clay pot ... is an indoor nightmare.. in my experience ... i gave up on them decades ago .... they are for greenhouses.. even outside ,... they are a PIA ... find a plastic pot of exactly the same size ... and repot it ... meaing.. slip it out.. and right back in ... the pot is wicking water.. out its sides .... so your media is drying in a weird way .... causing the plant to struggle ... it should not need too much water in winter.. indoors ... i water my ivy [whatever type it is] about once a week ... and its bone dry by the time i water again ... one hour in a north window.. will NEVER be defined as too much sun ... you are probably also not thinking about how the window panes themselves.. cut the effectiveness of the light ... and IMHO.. an ivy does not need more light ... i highly doubt a winter window is 70 night and day .... but in your z7 ... its not really an issue... i got up this morning in MI to NINE DEGREES .... you could feel the cold within a foot of the window ... but again ... it shouldnt matter in z7 ... its just not an issue .... since you are new.. i am just ruling out.. some of the things you listed .... the furnace/air movement.. is complicating the wicking on the pot ... though i doubt your furnace.. in z7 ... runs enough to affect the plant all that much .... up in my MI .... the furnace runs so much in winter.. maintaining humidity can make for leathery leaves on this kind of plant ... but the house humidifier deals with that ... if you buy the right size palstic pot ... you can slide the plastic pot into the clay.. if you like the look ... a glazed ceramic pot would not wick due to the glaze ... but i still have problems with those ... and part of it.. is how cold they can get at night.. as mentioned above... if the roots mass gets cold.. and it cant recover/warm during a real cold day .... the plants can go into SLLLOOOWWWW motion ... which a lot of them do in winter anyway .... [its also because the sun is so low in the sky.. light levels have fallen] and of course.. cold wet media... can lead to root rots ... etc ... but then.. i tend toward really dry plants ... so i avoid such.. along with the critters [fungus gnats] one of the best greenhouse growers near me.. lets all his plants wilt.. before watering them ... says it forces them to thrive thru growing a solid root mass ... but he is a professional ... his things WILL be watered... the evening of the day of wilting .. but then.. he has perfect humidity.. and all other variables ... point being.. a little wilt.. is not much to worry about .... as to your book comment... 10 years from now.. you will probably go back and read them.. and realize its all there ... if you only knew then.. what you know by the time you reread it .... anyway.. to my reading.. everything you are doing is spot on.. except for that clay pot ... good luck .... try to enjoy the process ... and not worry.. nor love your plant...

Thank you all. I have been lurking around GW trying to learn everything at once, but this is my first post. All of the forums have been greatly helpful. Can't imagine trying to learn all of this on my own :) I'm trying to turn the empty yard this house came with into something we can enjoy. I think it was too dry. I hadn't watered it since I built it. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to :) Glad to know it doesn't end up getting hot. That helps my nerves :) It rained over the last couple days and it did shrink a few inches, so I will keep watering it. Does an inch a week (adjusted for rainfall) sound right? I'll keep adding layers too. I'll get grounds form coffee shops daily, but I'm out of browns. I could use shredded computer paper (lots to get rid of) but I'm not sure about the ink in a veg garden. Maybe I'll volunteer to do some raking in the neighborhood. Mustard Seed, would the carpet start to stink? Have a bunch of that to get rid of too but worried about smell. Not sure about direct seed or transplanting vegetables. Read about winter sowing and that sounds great so whatever I can winter sow I will. The rest I'll direct sow if this decomposes enough or if not I'll start in little containers. The area defiantly gets plenty of sun. From about 10 or 11 to sunset in the summer it will get full sun. Actually kinda worried that it will get too hot. We regularly get days 100* and hotter in July August. The house is ~6' away from the garden and has stucco siding. Not sure if that will be too much for it. May be building a shade structure for afternoon sun. We'll see :) Thanks Again Mike

Now is a good time. Not much you can do to hurt ivy. If you do it now you should get some new spring growth to make it look less hacked.