Help with pachysandra

mrsmcave

MH and I purchased a home with a backyard FULL of pachysandra. There are little trees sprouting out of it, and it looks awful. We would like to try to rip some of it up, and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips, or has ever done this successfully.

Is the best method to just start pulling, or to square off sections, loosen the soil and roll it up? TIA. 

~NB~

It won't roll up like sod.

Tell me, if you remove the Pachysandra, what will you put it it's place? Would it be fair to say that you have mature trees in your yard (resulting in all the baby tree sprouts)?

The previous owners may have had a very good reason for planting Pachysandra. It usually grows well in shade, and it requires almost no care once it is established. You can't say that about grass.

I'd just pull/cut the baby trees. Trying to grow grass (under trees) is a really expensive full-time job.

mrsmcave

We would like to plant grass. The "trees" that I mentioned in the OP are not mature...They are more like sprouts, and there are many. The only mature trees we have are in the front yard, and there is already grass under those, so that's not an issue.

I'm sure the previous owners had a good reason for planting it, but now it is overgrown and out of control. Additionally, it covers the entire backyard, which we would like our dogs to be able to play in. 

~NB~

So your backyard is full sun?

mrsmcave

Nope, it's not. It is a partially shaded yard with pines on another property.

FoxinFiji

We're planning to plant pachysandra in our shady dog yard, LOL!  Almost all of our yard is shade and we have a heck of a time trying to maintain it.  We've settled for anything that is green and short can stay which leaves a lot of shade "weeds"(ajuga, creeping charlie, etc.).  In a particularly shade spot we couldn't any grass to grow so we put in a flagstone path last year and this year I'm planting Irish moss between the stones. 

-auntie-

If you don't mind it looking scruffy for a bit, trim it with a weed wacker. It'll get rid of the little seedling and make the cover more dense when it grows in.

mrsmcave

FoxinFiji:

We're planning to plant pachysandra in our shady dog yard, LOL! 

If only you lived closer, I could give you a boat load haha! Auntie, that's not a bad idea and I might give it a try. It's pretty scruffy already, so it really couldn't hurt.