I hate monkey grass with a passion

I had a brilliant idea as to how I should spend my weekend. Underneath a beautiful crepe myrtle in our front garden is a patch of what I have considered my least favorite vegetation for some years. I thought, "Oh, I'll just pull it up and plant some hosta there instead." Yah, bet?!

This demonic infestation of the aforementioned monkey grass has one of the most intricate root systems I have ever seen. After five hours of hard labor, I have cleared what may be a 3 foot by 4 foot patch of the green stuff. There are still roots sticking out all over the place. I can't tell which roots belong to the monkey grass and which belong to the tree (yes the monkey grass roots are nearly that diameter) and ivy that are growing there.

The big surprise is that hidden among the monkey grass I found two hostas just beginning to poke their way through the earth. I have been extraordinarily careful not to mess with those!!!

Now, it is raining...which means that the earliest I will finish this project is next weekend. Meanwhile, fighting through the warzone known as Colfax on a Saturday morning after a tornado just to go to the farmer's market could have been delayed another week. I have 6 hosta, 2 flats of vinca and 2 more herb plants waiting to be put in the ground...

The bright side of the rain is that after all of my digging and bending over yesterday, my body feels like it has been hit by a truck. I need not to do that again today. Vacuuming and laundry never sounded so welcoming!