Pulling Up Big Roots

For the last few days I've been out in the garden, in my front bed where I took out those two trees, trying to get the bed ready for new ones. Basically I've been pulling up as many old roots as I can from the old cherry that was there. It's likely it was grafted onto sour cherry root stock, I've heard that's quite common, because for as long as we've been here baby sour cherry trees have been popping up from the roots everywhere throughout the bed, and even in the grass in our front yard. In fact, even though the tree is gone, the suckers are still coming up in the lawn.

The guy who did the stump grinding for us managed to get most of the stump, but there is a big piece of it left. I'm going to need to get him back to have another go at it.

The base of the stump left behind

There was at least one root in there that was as big as my thigh, and believe me, I've got big thighs.

Big roots!

The soil is also very sandy and very rocky.

My lovely pile o' rocks

I have a stockpile of bagged compost that I'm planning to till into the soil, after sifting it for as many rocks as my patience will allow me to get out. If the compost isn't enough, I can also get some free bio-solids (treated people poo from the Sumner, WA. wastewater treatment plant).

A friend of a neighbor who saw me working in the bed came over and offered to bring his chainsaw the next day and cut a bunch of big roots out for me. That was a relief. He suggested that we save the roots and weather them to burn in our wood stove in a couple of years, so that's the plan.

Big pile o' wood

But for now, it looks like a big bomb went off in there. A big bomb called Alison. Or maybe we'll just call it "Big Momma."

My bomb crater