The Monterrey Oak died in the February 2021 deep freeze and we had it cut down in June. That left us with a stump.
The first step is to clear off all the plants from around it. We transplanted them, at least temporarily, to various locations, giving us a clear area to work.
Then we start digging around the stump. The objective is to dig down, cutting off the roots that hold the stump in place. We hit roots right away.
But we keep digging.
And exposing more and more of the root structure of the stump.
As we dig, we eventually hit a shelf of solid rock under the stump, and then are able to go all around the stump, down to rock.
Then we put a jack under one side of the stump, and pry it up off the rock and dirt, completely separating it from the underlying rock, so that it can be moved.
Although it is now separated from the earth, it is still much too heavy to be moved, so we apply a wedge to the top and with much sledge hammer work, split it down the middle, and then into fourths.
which allows us to roll the various parts of the stump up out of the pit and produces a big empty hole in the back yard where the stump was.
We then start enlarging this hole, first out into the yard.
And then around to the one side
all the way down to the rock shelf.
Then we turned and dug to the other side.
And we took out the rock wall surrounding the bed.
Then, we brought back all the dirt from the initial digging, mixing it with old leaves and grass.
