I am wondering the best way to plant cuttings of English Ivy to get it started as ground cover in my beds and around a couple of shade trees. We are new to Winston-Salem, NC from DFW, TX and not familiar with the approach to gardening here either.

We have ivy growing well on one side under the various shrubs and none on the other, so I'd like to balance the look from the front and also add it under shade trees where grass isn't growing well.

I have considered buying pine needles to cover the areas under the shade trees, which is a popular approach from what I gather. However, I would prefer the beauty of the ivy.

I have a FREE large pile of thick English Ivy vines pulled off the back of the garage with roots and good growth, so I was breaking them up to about 1 foot long vines and burying them in about 1-inch-deep ruts with the leaves above ground and watering well. The ivy was pulled yesterday and it rained overnight, the sun is beating down today but I thought perhaps they would still be viable and I'd give it a shot.

Any suggestions? How often to water? Anything else to do to get it going? How likely is it to actually take root? Etc? I am a very new gardener.

Thanks in advance to all feedback!