presuming salty is correct ... and i havent seen him wrong ... then its a shrub ... you will NOT reliably kill a shrub or tree by SPRAYING the leaves ... you might kill the leaves.. but not the roots ... soooo ... get a very expensive applicator like at the link ... remove product.. wash and MARK THE CONTAINER ....and insert UN-DILUTED roundup ... which is 41% ... snip trunk.. and apply RU to cut .. just a few drops ... and repeat.. until you have killed the whole root system.. with poison ivy.. it took me 3 years.. snipping and applying 3 times a year as the suckers popped up ... it eventually got the idea.. and died ... actually.. since it remains undiluted.. you could pour it back in its properly marked container.. and clean out the applicator ... just in case someone with a hotdog is rooting thru your garage for a condiment .. [well.. if that doesnt make you hit the link.. nothing will.. lol] ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: its the applicator not the brand name

Scarlett, heavy mulching and direct sowing don't mix. The mulch is going to prevent weed seeds from germinating, will feed and help to condition the soil, help prevent compaction in your beds with heavy fall and winter rains but its going to inhibit germination of desirable seeds you might sow too. Its not going to smother aggressive or perennial weeds that have already taken hold - no way around it, you're going to need to pull those getting the roots out too so they don't resprout. There are a number of type weed seeds that will germinate in Fall and Winter here so mulch applied before Fall rains begin will cut down on your coming season chores, weeding. It looks like we share our zone. What time of year you apply your mulch isn't as critical here (looking your post in the soils/compost forum)...ground doesn't really freeze to any depth in a normal winter. I will try to do my major cleanup and mulching in Spring but for a number of reasons this year I'm finishing up now. We're still restoring beds (year two in this location) and I've just now finished spreading 8 yards of purchased compost as a top dressing as my mulch for this year.....beds had been long neglected and were overrun run with alder, blackberry, ivy. If you'll look above at FAQs, you'll see that the type of winter sowing done and discussed here is accomplished in pots or recycled containers outdoors in winter....most use recycled, while I use pots (have hundreds over many years). That would work for you with the seeds you would like to start - you could do your bed cleaning and mulching now. In Spring when you have seedlings and young plants, you can pull back the mulch in the areas you are working, plant your perennials from the containers they have germinated in, push the mulch back into place around them. So, my shorter response is, get those weeds under control and your beds and its soil in shape - then concentrate on planting. There really is not a good way to both at the same time, and you'll benefit from doing the preliminary work first more than you can know. Soil and weeds first, permanent plantings later.

I was going to post an addendum to my first response about making sure all the ivy was removed before planting anything else.......guess I should do so now :-) English ivy is not the easiest plant to eradicate and you will have very little success by just trying to smother it, especially with any type of organic mulch. The ivy will simply growth through it in time. And the roots can remain viable for an extended period, even when top growth has been removed. Manual removal is the most effective method - it just requires a lot of elbow grease but you must remove as much of the root system as you can manage. An alternative is to cut back top growth and paint the exposed stems with RoundUp concentrate. This typically takes a couple of applications for full effectiveness. Just spraying RoundUp or other herbicide on the plant is not very effective as ivy leaves have a waxy surface or cuticle that resists herbicidal penetration. And be prepared to pull ivy seedlings for some time as well..... I do not recommend attempting to short cut this approach. You will continue to battle the ivy endlessly and have just a giant mess if you attempt to plant before removing or eradicating ALL the ivy.

No suggestions, I'm afraid. It's such a shame this is so aggressive, it's a really pretty groundcover. I see a lot of it in more urban settings, where it can't get away into woods, and thought about planting it myself but chose vinca instead. I know some people find *that* invasive too, though I don't think it's likely to get away from me in my yard. The houses across the street from me back into a very steeply sloped wooded area, it's probably about 30 yards deep before hitting the back yards of the street below. I recently stood on the edge of those woods trying to call for a missing pet, and was surprised to see how much Boston ivy there was spreading into the floor of the woods. It was an eye opener for me to see how a "nice groundcover" can get away if the conditions are right. Those same woods were also full of bittersweet and poison ivy. Fortunately my cat turned up after spending a week in someone's basement, so I didn't have to try to crawl through the woods!