The flower bed along the garage has about 4 inches of topsoil (feels like potting soil + random dirt) over rock-hard red clay and chalky pebbles. I now understand why the roots think that my foundation might be a reasonable place to grow. Fortunately, I had a pickaxe (thanks, Dad) and some ingenuity. The main root was lying flush against the foundation, which made it hard to get a grip on. But once I dug out enough to get the claw end of my hammer under the root, I was able to pull it out just far enough to wedge the pickaxe under. Hooray for leverage! I leaned; the root broke off; I declared victory.
In addition to the main stretch of root, I dug out a number of offshoots, some of which were rather sizeable themselves (as in, longer than a foot, and too thick for my hand-held shears to cut through). One of those shoots was doing its level best to work its way between the stucco and the frame of the garage. I had to chop several bits of it off before I was able to work it free of the wall. It was wedged in there but good.
A fair amount of digging out remains to be done, but I'm feeling like progress was made (sore fingers, aching back, and all).
Lessons learned:
- A hammer is a useful gardening tool.
- If I am going to be working in the dirt, I should always put on my gloves. Always. Even if there aren't any thorny things around. My fingers will thank me.
- It's all about the leverage.
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