Dingo

In my last post I mentioned something about bamboo.  Today's post is all about the first (I'm sure of many) stumbling blocks I have run into in this garden project.  The previous owner of my home decided it would be a good idea to plant bamboo.   I am sure it was a small plant as part of an Asian inspired garden.  Whoever that person was did not do their homework.  The bamboo has taken over my yard and right now it feels like destroyed my ability to start this garden.  Luckily I have the help of family and friends and some modern machinery to get over this hurdle.  Below is a picture of our adventures this weekend with a machine called a Dingo which I procured from my local rental company.

Behind me you can see the bamboo forest.  It does serve a purpose as there is a train track directly behind it but it is definitely slowing down this garden process.  

So prior to renting this machine I called the rental company and explained my conundrum  and they assured me this machine would do the trick and I trusted them.  In case any of my readers has the same issue, it did not.  It was delivered on Saturday afternoon and once my parents arrived we tested it out only to find out that when faced with the strong bamboo roots it stalled out..... every time. 

 Dad I and are resilient (aka stubborn) we were going to make this work.   We started out on Sunday morning about 9am digging at the roots with shovels and cutting them with a hand saw.  Several hours and a trip to Lowes for new shovels later we had barely cleared a 12 by 12 patch.  We were then able to run the Dingo for a couple of passes.  Thank goodness for friends and family because by 3pm I was in complete meltdown, tears and all.  This is much harder than I thought it was going to be.  It just means the reward will be that much sweeter...