Remember all the stumps from the grapevine in a previous photo? Those have all been cut down flush with the ground and covered with mulch. See the compost bin toward the back of the photo. Also I put a strip of 3-foot wide black plastic on the ground behind where the grapevine had been, because it was impossible to get rid of all the buckthorn berries. The seeds can remain viable in the ground for several years. I covered the plastic with a thick layer of mulch. Here I've dug the holes for the new plants and will finish mulching. I wonder if the neighbor to the east hated that hideous grapevine as much as I did.