Good luck with your dastardly plans!*

Last week I decided that I was going to tackle my yard - mostly with the plants.  The grass will take time, I'll be treating it in the spring and fall and maybe in a decade I'll like the grass in my yard.  So last Saturday I bought four bags of mulch...then by the time I got home it was pouring down rain.

So Tuesday evening I decided I was going to tackle some of the yard.  My friend, Bryan, came over to help me and at first when he offered I kept telling him he didn't have to, but I'm glad he was there.  Plants are trickier than they seem, they've got these things called roots...very nefarious things.  Point being, I would not have been able to accomplish what I wanted to had I not had an extra set of helping hands. 

We started with the rosebush thingy. We took out all the weeds, then we started on the extra plants that have found their way over to this area over the years (at least I hope it was multiple years, I'd hate to think that anything could dig in that deep within a year).  Then we put down lots of mulch! And ta-da!

Then we went for the side of the driveway.

I hate plants that shouldn't even be there, and my roommate hates them more because they are always scrapping up against her car when she is backing out of the driveway.  These were a little bit trickier, not only had they been left to grow their for years, but they grew up between the cuss word rocks that line the driveway (I hate that I have these rocks ALL OVER my yard, encircling every flower bed and lining the driveway.  They are a lawn mowing nightmare!  ...breath.

So we got out the saw and worked down the branches until we could see the rocks.  Then we moved the rocks and got to work digging up the roots.  At one point I had had it and just starting to hack away at the plants with the shovel.  It was an incredible way to get out all of my anger and frustration that I frankly didn't realize I was holding on to until I started to go crazy on these plants.  In the end we were able to dig out the roots (or most of them).  By that point I exhausted, my legs and arms were shaking and I felt like I was going to pass out....so we called it a day and cleaned up a little.  This is what we get at the end:

It's not the prettiest, but it's a start

I plan to finish weeding out the stuff by the driveway on Thursday (today by the time anyone reads this) and maybe start on the other areas of the yard (yipee).