I wrote this in 2009, and apparently never published it. I wrote it from a perspective of finding the energy of the Bermuda grass to keep going in finding things that work for Dominic. Its interesting to look at it and remember how hard we were fighting then to stretch every single dollar to make Alpine do-able. Now that we've finished our time at Alpine things are much easier. and for reference... the bermuda patch still tries to send up shoots but i've basically beaten it. I never did sit on the Yucca either. Metaphors, gotta love 'em.
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This summer has seen lots of yard work as the past several I just didn’t get out as much as I should’ve to maintain my flowerbeds, manage the weeds (and mint, someone remind me why I planted mint to begin with???), deadhead the flowers so they’ll bloom, etc etc.
This summer I have tackled the last part of my yard to tackle. It’s a little 7x15ish patch on the South side of the house that up to this year was 3+ ft tall weeds and Bermuda grass,and one lonely yucca plant that Rod bought me almost a decade ago
Our first attempt was to mow the weeds down as low as we could, pull out the area around the yucca, and lay down the thickest weed block fabric we could find,and cover with mulch. We were in a hurry and it was an afterthought because we bought too much mulch and had to get it moved out of the driveway before the roofers showed up to fix the roof. Just cleaning out around the Yucca, I pulled an entire garbage bag of Bermuda grass root systems out. That stuff is… amazing.
About 2 weeks later, I noticed that not only was there grass coming up around all the edges of my lovely mulch patch, but that entire sections were now LEVITATING 4-6 inches off the ground as the Bermuda grass underneath proceeded to ignore the weed block fabric and grow anyway. So I went out with my gardening gloves and weed attacking tools and started working around the edges of my patch to try to get the root systems up so that the Bermuda would stop growing. I pulled out 2-4 ft sections of root, I pulled out whole lumpy masses of multiple root systems… I pulled out 2 garbage bags worth of roots and still didn’t make it even half the way around.
When my parents were here, my mom helped me with some and shared that 35 years ago in the first house they bought, they had to have the septic system fixed and it was 12ft under. When dug up, the problem was the Bermuda roots eating holes in the system. We pulled another bag of roots up and noted that my contractor strength weed block had already, in less than a month, had weeds grown right on through it.
I just went out and attacked the patch again. An hour and a half and another bag of roots down, and I’ve ALMOST made it around the patch (every time I go out, I have to redo all the parts I’ve already done before getting to new parts). Several places I lifted the fabric up and found MASSES of white Bermuda roots trying like mad to find their way to the sunshine. I kept having to remind myself to NOT sit on the yucca
And as I pulled, and shoveled, and cursed the Bermuda, I mused on tenacity. What kind of amazing tenacity is it to fight your way first around, and then when that failed, just outright burrow and pierce THROUGH the barrier keeping you away from what you need. I found myself doing homage to the Bermuda and asking for that kind of strength and tenacity in my own life.
.
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This summer has seen lots of yard work as the past several I just didn’t get out as much as I should’ve to maintain my flowerbeds, manage the weeds (and mint, someone remind me why I planted mint to begin with???), deadhead the flowers so they’ll bloom, etc etc.
This summer I have tackled the last part of my yard to tackle. It’s a little 7x15ish patch on the South side of the house that up to this year was 3+ ft tall weeds and Bermuda grass,and one lonely yucca plant that Rod bought me almost a decade ago
Our first attempt was to mow the weeds down as low as we could, pull out the area around the yucca, and lay down the thickest weed block fabric we could find,and cover with mulch. We were in a hurry and it was an afterthought because we bought too much mulch and had to get it moved out of the driveway before the roofers showed up to fix the roof. Just cleaning out around the Yucca, I pulled an entire garbage bag of Bermuda grass root systems out. That stuff is… amazing.
About 2 weeks later, I noticed that not only was there grass coming up around all the edges of my lovely mulch patch, but that entire sections were now LEVITATING 4-6 inches off the ground as the Bermuda grass underneath proceeded to ignore the weed block fabric and grow anyway. So I went out with my gardening gloves and weed attacking tools and started working around the edges of my patch to try to get the root systems up so that the Bermuda would stop growing. I pulled out 2-4 ft sections of root, I pulled out whole lumpy masses of multiple root systems… I pulled out 2 garbage bags worth of roots and still didn’t make it even half the way around.
When my parents were here, my mom helped me with some and shared that 35 years ago in the first house they bought, they had to have the septic system fixed and it was 12ft under. When dug up, the problem was the Bermuda roots eating holes in the system. We pulled another bag of roots up and noted that my contractor strength weed block had already, in less than a month, had weeds grown right on through it.
I just went out and attacked the patch again. An hour and a half and another bag of roots down, and I’ve ALMOST made it around the patch (every time I go out, I have to redo all the parts I’ve already done before getting to new parts). Several places I lifted the fabric up and found MASSES of white Bermuda roots trying like mad to find their way to the sunshine. I kept having to remind myself to NOT sit on the yucca
And as I pulled, and shoveled, and cursed the Bermuda, I mused on tenacity. What kind of amazing tenacity is it to fight your way first around, and then when that failed, just outright burrow and pierce THROUGH the barrier keeping you away from what you need. I found myself doing homage to the Bermuda and asking for that kind of strength and tenacity in my own life.
.
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