Canadian Thistle? You're History - I Hope!

Hosta.  Everywhere.  Problem is, so is Canadian Thistle.

There were established hosta beds on this property when I bought it three years ago, and two years in a row I sold and gave away a lot of it, and still have plenty left for what I need.  I've dug up, divided, and moved much of it more times than I care to admit, and they're still going strong.  Can't kill this stuff.

Unfortunately, the same can be said of the Canadian thistle that has invaded the area, particularly my one hosta bed in the front corner of my house.  I've dug it up almost daily, digging as deep as I can to get to the runner, and it's been a fruitless effort thus far.  Nothing seems to work because I can't get to the root of it (literally).

I'm tired of wasting time every day with it, but if it's not tended to, it runs rampant, so time to bring out the big guns.

I wanted to rearrange the hosta and perhaps stick in an annual or two, so decided to just dig up the whole bed again and start over.

(Click photos to enlarge)

Here's what I started with

There's no way to dig up that thistle without
 digging up and splitting the whole plant

The Canadian Thistle is everywhere!

Hosta gone ...

... to its temporary home on a tarp.

Now to work on getting rid of the thistle

I'm getting there

Almost done

Now to fix border, amend soil, and replant

This is where I had to leave off last night. It was threatening rain a couple of hours earlier than predicted, so no time to get garden soil and the hosta back in there properly before it hit. It's supposed to rain again this afternoon and evening, so I'm going to try to get out there and put things back in place before it does.

Lots more to do, so stay tuned for more before and after shots of other projects.

(Round 2 of the hosta bed challenge already posted).