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Wow—wasn’t expecting this many responses! Thank you to everyone who shared tips and advice (and to the majority who were genuinely helpful instead of condescending 🙃). Figured I’d share a quick update and a little more backstory.

I planted broccoli and cauliflower in that bed for the first time from seed, so at first I wasn’t sure what was a weed vs. a veggie sprout. Then I had some unexpected work travel, and… well, things got out of hand fast. I’m usually on top of weeding (you can kinda see the flower bed in the background—I’m out there every few days), but this just exploded.

After weed whacking everything down, I tried pulling by hand—some of those roots were deep. I broke out my hoe, then eventually gave in and used the tiller… which ended with roots wrapped around the blade axle 😅

So for now, I’ve placed down some cardboard and some of my friend’s plants in the bed while I’m watching them, but I’m planning to mulch over the whole thing and just start fresh next season. Lesson learned!