Landscaping Update: The Hard Stuff

I'd say my labors during the month of May were highly productive, and I'm pretty happy about how much I got done with the yard, even if I'm no where near through. One measure of my productivity was the fact that I've already had to get a second dump-truck load of topsoil...here's all that was left by May 23rd:

So here's the second pile-o-dirt of the season (which as of today I've already made a pretty good dent in):

A particularly back-breaking aspect of these labors has been relocation of good sod in order to create planting areas in the front yard:

In this case, I wasn't moving the sod very far: just a few feet away to cover over the area left after the removal and stump-grinding of the large diseased tree in the front yard a year ago:

Part of what made that sod removal hard is the roots from that old tree that still remain underground and spread throughout that area.

I've found that any digging I do on the south side of the house, especially if it is near the old driveway or where the current parking area is, puts me into some very, very hard-packed clay and some very, very hard-packed gravel. (And also some black plastic sheeting and a layer of sand.) In order to plant some dwarf crepe myrtles beside the short walkway from the parking lot to the steps to the front porch, I had to break out the pickaxe and an extra set of back muscles:

Finally, I have lost one of my new shrubs: one of the rhododendron that I'd planted along the south side of the property, where I've also planted 13 azaleas and two other rhododendron. But I've already replaced it.