After I pulled as many roots as I could out of the soil between the hawthorn, this is after a summer of them growing crappy weeds I couldn't get in there to get out, Al decided to go for what I had suggested a week before to him and he'd told he didn't like the idea of using. This is a mulch of bark bits and not much soil. He got a gazillion bags or more. They sat for about a week and then I hauled one out and dumped it, then came back in to rest because the back hurt so much.
Next I saw, all the bags were mysteriously lined up along the soil like elves had come and done the job for me. It was a big elf, I believe.
Its taken us both awhile but the mulch is down and spread and the rocks are back in place and I've got the pics to prove it.
Those lawn guys whom he hires to do the tough stuff trimmed the trees in front awhile back and he liked it so he got them to trim the crepe myrtles in the back too. That was scary. There were piles of branches surrounding the back yard. The trees looked so bare. Now the branches are piled on the curb for heavy trash pickup and new leaves are sprouting on the decapitated myrtles.