A few weeks ago I was in the midst of digging up the monkey grass border on the west garden, and wrote about being stymied by rotting timber that had to be replaced. We dug it all up because of the crab grass intertwined in the roots and taking over my garden in the heat of summer. I handled each one of those root bundles, separating them and pulling out the pernicious crab grass roots. Having finally finished with that project, with some help from everyone else in the family, it wasn’t really done. Of course not.
There’s a path of rocks in the middle of the garden, which water from the rain gutter drains through. If I left it with grass roots running through it then all my work weeding the monkey grass would be a waste of time. I can tell you that there is nothing like shoveling rocks to remind me that I am not in my twenties anymore, or my thirties, or even my forties. I have moved about half of them and dug down a few inches beneath to get all the roots out.
Mr. Mims had picked up a roll of landscape fabric for cheap at the Habitat for Humanity Restore on Rutherford Road. When he saw me messing with the rocks he came over and laid the fabric down to deter any more growth from underneath. Now I still have to dig up the other side, or we, since it’s the weekend and my boys haven’t even reached their twenties yet…