The place: Catalunya, Spain about 5km inland from the Mediterranean near the town of Cubelles
The context: some time in the 1980s a drunken excavator operator carved out the wrong part of the mountain so that the house had to be re-sited farther up the slope. When my mother-in-law complained he walked off the job and kept all of the money. Eventually the good sunny site was backfilled with construction rubble and English ivy was planted to hide the mess. The
local birds and squirrels have helped plant a large briar through the mature ivy. A few fir
trees volunteered recently, but it's mostly ivy and bramble. The home is in the greenbelt area of the development and is beside one of the never-built vacant lots offering alternative habitat for what's currently in this spot.
Present day: I would like to reclaim this steep area to grow better more useful things. It has been building up a soil layer from leaf litter for many years, but itsn't especially stable and I really don't know what all was dumped under there 40 years ago. I can picture a small apricot-guild orchard if I add some some terracing for stability and/or putting some
solar panels there to help power the garage/workshop/house if what's underneath turns out to be a terror.
I wish I could rent a ruminant but absent a helpful goat I've been removing ivy and brambles by hand weekend after weekend. I don't want to fight ivy for the rest of my life. What are the permiest ways to get rid of ivy/brambles permanently? I'm also assuming that
biochar when it has dried out would be better than trying to
compost something so invasive, but I'm open to suggestions. This is a hard place to work since it's about ten feet above the ground story at its lowest point. The area will be frequently seen but infrequently walked upon once I've cleared and replanted it.
PS. I'm looking for recommendations for delicious apricot cultivars suitable to this area, too. Thanks, E