Operation Unlawn's first phase ("dump compost on the yard") was a success. The second phase ("have spouse run rented rototiller around the yard while you go to a party") was also a mission accomplished.
However, the insurgent Bermuda grass is threatening to disrupt the garden-building. For those of you unacquainted with Satan's turf-builder: imagine The Blob, only in scrubby grass form. This stuff sends out runners both above and below ground, so even if you yank up one clump, if a little tendril remains, it'll re-root and flourish. (As Ayse's entries in the wonderful Casa Decrepit weblog demonstrate, Bermuda grass is a plague unto Alameda.)
To get the grass out of the yard, you have a few choices: dig up every single clump, down to the tangled mass of roots deep in the soil, or bomb the yard with a pesticide of mass destruction.
Because the dumber of my two idiot cats enjoys grazing on greenery, I am reluctant to go the Roundup Ready route. So this means that I am digging out the Bermuda grass on my own. And if you're ever as crazy as I am, may I recommend using the Garden Hound tiller? This $25 device is remarkably effective at breaking up soil so you can get to the Gordian knot from which all evil and/or Bermuda grass springs. Also, it's a remarkably cheap workout: I used it for an hour on a corner of our front yard yesterday, and this morning as I was swimming, my triceps and deltoids were registering complaints about the unfairness of it all.
I am hopeful that the insurgent Bermuda grass will be rooted out in the next four days. By then, I fully expect to have arms just like Linda Hamilton's in Terminator II.
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