dan vs. grass and mulch
The previous owners of the home in which we now have the honor of residing retained the services of a landscaping company to manage the grounds, and the landscaping company must have been paid by the visit rather than the hour. The reason I say this is that the landscaping, though quite presentable and even attractive from a distance, is designed primarily for maximum speed in upkeep. Which is to say, it features, along with a goodly number of very nice shrubs, a great deal of grass and mulch. With this setup the professionals could zip in, give the lawn a quick once-over with the mower, and throw another layer of mulch on the mulchy spots if they looked like they were getting thin. They even made sure that the mulch beds are lower than the grass, to ensure that the mower could run over their edges and remove the potential need for any edge-trimming by hand.
Which is all fine and good, except that it means that whenever I try and plant something I have to take out some of the aforementioned grass or mulch. And then, when I take it out, I have to find somewhere to dispose of it. It's good thick grass we have, well fertilized and watered; the mulch--renewed, apparantly, each year if not more frequently--is close to six inches deep in some places. This is what I have to fight through to put in my pleasant, human-friendly plants. The work procedes apace, but I wish that it wasn't such a struggle. It may be a few years before I reach a satisfactory point in my battle with the easy-care landscaping (easy-care for professionals, that is); though perhaps by that poing the mulch will have composted itself entirely. It looks a little ratty already, but I sure don't plan on renewing it: to dust it shall return, and it can't go too quick for me.
I dug up about 30 square feet of grass today, and maybe 40 pounds of mulch. Only 7,970 square feet and 960 pounds to go.