Root Balls

Digging out the rootballs of four 15-ft. Lilly Pillies in our yard, a nightmare. Big thick roots entangled with those of a 15-ft. Laurel – be sure to cut the right roots. What’s that? A pipe from the defunct sprinkler system, don’t mess with it. Oops, up against the foundation. Soil hard as clay (because it is). Saw blade clogged and dulled with dirt. Two weekends on this now, and still not done. Some home improvement jobs just thankless. Making way for a new and improved, less Euclidean front yard.

What I love about Home Despot is the fact that they’ll take anything on return. Last week bought a Mutt for chopping out rootballs – like a hoe with a thicker, sharp blade that’s straight rather than L-shaped. Of course couldn’t resist using it as a prybar, and promptly broke the handle. Didn’t have the receipt. HD took it back no questions asked. Now I’m part of the problem. The woman in front of me brought back three houseplants she hadn’t watered. They were dead, Jim, dead, but HD took them back no questions asked. Now that’s customer service.

Music: Paul Desmond :: Indian Summer

2 Replies to “Root Balls”

  1. We used to have a Lilly Pilly at out old house. It was great for climbing, but the berries stained the concrete. We chopped it down, and had the Stump Grubbed. It never grew back.

    We replaced it with a “Dwarf” Eucalypt which grew to about 30 metres.

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