Actually, the subtitle is a little misleading. The epic battle has already been waged and won, and now the biggest sand cherry and I are off nursing our wounds. I won't bore you with a blow-by-blow replay, but our opponent was the hunk of concrete below:
It's a little over a foot long, about six inches wide, and four deep. I hadn't meant to start a tussle, but then, who does? Yesterday while I was loosening the soil under the cherry to plant some dwarf columbines (Aquilegia chrysantha var. chaplinei 'Golden Treasure'), my trowel came across the hunk of cement about eight inches down, not wanting to be loosened. (Where was it five years ago, when I dug through the whole garden twice just to get rid of such things?) Thirty minutes of root- and branch-breaking, vocabulary-stretching work later, victory was ours. The sand cherry and I are both done in, but it will have been worth it. At least, it had better be.
I'm off to bed again for a while. A pity. I was thinking so many exciting thoughts about mulch, just perfect for a sparkling post. Another time, I suppose.
In the meanwhile, I have some vocabulary to unlearn.
Rest and feel better Stacy...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Donna--I think I'm back in the running again.
DeleteIf the vocabulary requires bed rest, it was well earned and needs nurturing. Forearmed for a future battle!! Those concrete souvenirs of builders from hell remind me of flotsam and jetsam. As if the earth in my garden is a very gently moving sea. The stones and concrete chunks and bits are raised grain by grain to the surface and flaunted at the gardener. Oy you, you missed ANOTHER bit. My collection gets parked on the brick edges, which ticks off the brick edger.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I would have called in reinforcements to get that out myself.
Diana, your comment is one pearl of wisdom after another. I'll cherish the vocabulary but hope not to use it at work. (Ahem.) Flotsam and jetsam is a wonderful description. Why those bits of debris must flaunt themselves is a mystery, but flaunt themselves they do. Surely the brick edger would not be happier if you just LEFT the chunks and bits where they were originally... What else is to be done with them, after all? If reinforcements had been at hand, I would have been glad to call on them. LOUDLY. (And possibly pitifully.)
DeleteThat's a big chunk of concrete! I usually just plant around stuff like that! :O But your garden will be much better off without it.
ReplyDeleteHolley, if I'd known how big it was, I would have been tempted to leave it! At first I thought it was only fist sized. Then hand-sized. Then whatever's bigger than hand-sized. Then it was too late to stop digging!
DeleteI like your label, "murder and mayhem." I have to do battle with a redbud tree that won't seem to go away, but never became tree like either.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, GirlSprout, it just helps to come out and say, "Gardening isn't all sweetness and light, you know!" Hope your redbud tree gets itself sorted--one way or another... Practice your battle cries in advance, is my only advice.
DeleteI have several chunks of concrete like that. If you figure out a use for it, please let me know. 13 ways to .... ?
ReplyDeleteb-a-g, ha! And here I'd just planned to throw that hunk of concrete in the garbage. Not very creative, really. I shall think (but probably not very hard) on a meme...
DeleteI had no doubt you'd win Stacy. Rest easy. D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the vote of confidence, Dave--it's very sweet and much-appreciated. Being thrown off-stride by a lump of concrete is incredibly frustrating!
DeleteGet some much needed rest Stacy. That looks like a huge project to me!
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you today,
Elaine
Elaine, thank you. This was a much bigger project than I'd bargained for! So much for pacing. I'm grateful still to be able to do that kind of work, but really galled and a little frightened to find out what kind of price has to be paid these days. Always glad to "see" you out and about.
DeleteWe keep discovering bricks and concrete and the like... I have a theory that a wee garden gnome comes along when I'm not looking and puts them there... I'll catch him at it one day!
ReplyDeleteYou must have been ever slightly pleased with yourself when you'd finished, Stacy.
Janet, if you ever do catch that garden gnome, please let him know that I'd like a word with him when you've finished...
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, I was a little pleased... I've kept the lump of concrete to impress visitors with, at any rate.