Hey all!

To start, I realize that people have strong feelings on whether wild grapevines are good or bad. I welcome this discussion, but in light of the size of my yard, keeping this vine would essentially kill everything else in my yard, so I'm choosing to get rid of it.

I'm in Joliet, IL in a neighborhood which has trees along all the property lines.

I'm also a new homeowner. The home we bought had a poorly kept-up yard (the previous owner lived here for 3 years and apparently only mowed the lawn...nothingn else). The yards on either side are equally out-of-control, with one house being vacant, and the other home to a single elderly woman. After we moved in on July 3rd, I began exploring the yard. I knew where there were 2 peony plants, as they had been blooming when we looked at the house. So I sorted out what else was there. Lily-of-the-Valley (sadly, past its bloom time, but I look forward to it next year!) and daylilies surround the yard, but half of the daylilies were not blooming! In fact, some began to die back.

So I started poking around in those flower beds and discovered this vine...this damn vine. It wraps around the stems and flowers and chokes them, it's climbing the trees and bringing limbs down, and putting down new root cores every few feet! I did a bunch of research, and am 100% sure it's wild grapevine. I found one bunch of grapes while cutting it down, and the leaves look like maple leaves.

So I began cutting the vines and digging up the roots, and have been doing so for 3 weeks now! At the moment, I have about 1/3 of the yard totally clear of the vine, another 3rd with the vines cut (but the roots are in the neighbor's yard), and another 3rd that I still need to attack.

It's getting tedious, and I'm concerned that they are just going to regrow next spring.

So my questions are this:

A) Is there a better way to get rid of this stuff? I'm hesitant to use chemicals because I have a dog who loves to go lie down under the daylilies.

B) In one area, every other plant was completely demolished by the vine...will covering the area with gardening cloth/a tarp keep the vine from growing back there, so I can start fresh in the spring? (I'm thinking of putting lilacs in!)

C) The vines aren't just mine...I know I'm going to be fighting them from the neighbors' yards. What's the best way to keep them in check?

Thanks a bunch. I'm learning a bunch by reading through these forums!