After 2 years of letting it go, I'm now reclaiming my front yard. I've made a plan and will be starting on it this weekend.
Weeding, reclaiming flower beds, getting rid of dollar weeds and coaxing the grass to grow again are all on the agenda.
Yesterday, during our afternoon coffee break, the Island King and I were standing in the driveway and I told him that part of the plan is to get rid of the Nandina plants along the front of the garage and plant something I like.
I asked him if he thought he could pull the Nandina out with his truck so we wouldn't have to dig it out. He thought about it for a minute and then said "I don't know - let's find out" and before I knew it he was backing the truck up.
I was just outlining the plan for him. Yanking the bush out today wasn't anywhere on the list but the man HATES yard work so when he wanted to do it right then I went with it.
He backed the truck up and tied a tow strap to the bottom of the bush.
And off he went. There was a moment when I thought it was going to work
But then the strap slid upwards and completely stripped the stalks.
Now we have a naked Nandina.
Thinking that maybe he needed to tie the strap lower, he tried it again.
And again the strap slid up and off, leaving the roots still firmly in the ground.
Hmm. What else could we use that won't slide up the stalks?
As they were rooting around in the truck, my BIL pulled up and wanted to know what we were doing.
He suggested tying a small rope to just a few stalks and trying to pull it out a little at a time.
That didn't work either. The rope slid up and off the stalks just like the strap did.
That only left one option.
After digging around the base for a minute the Island King says he thinks that if he can get the rope around the root ball he'll be able to pull it out - which sure sounds better than digging it out.
He got the strap tied around the root and then tried one more time.
And it worked!
Yeah! The Nandina has been removed.
It took a while to chop up the root ball and put most of the dirt back in the hole but an hour and a half after I mentioned taking the Nandina out - it was gone.
I'm going to have to step up my plans for planting this bed but at least the major obstacle is gone.
When we were finished the Island King looked at me and said "I just love pulling stuff with my truck! Got anything else you want removed?" LOLLabels: Done
