Instead of "landscaping", it should be called "hurty". n/t
= new reply since forum marked as read
I'm currently laying yard upon yard of mulch. But thanks for the idea about raised beds...something to consider this year. 
don't get a notion to take some barber buzzer clippers bought on Amazon and go to town on the jungle without putting a guard on it...unless you feel like bleeding almost to death for a few hours. That's what i heard from someone at least...
I used to raise horses. Since most of our colts (young male horses) were not stallion material, we usually gelded (castrated) them just after we weaned them.
One year we had a half dozen colts to geld. Our vet came out and spent most of the day doing the procedure which involved cutting open the sac, then using a tool which crimped shut the blood vessels to the testicles, then cutting off the testicles. That vet had a habit of using minimal sedation, so the colts would be castrated while standing - which was actually safer since an equine recovering from enough sedation to put it on the ground does a lot of staggering around as they wake up enough to attempt to stand. (For this procedure which he had demonstrated at the veterinary school he got the nickname of "Iron Balls."
We did each colt in order, putting them into stalls to finish getting over the sedation. We checked on each periodically and about 4 PM the vet and his assistant packed up and left for their office. About an hour later I checked on the colts again. The last colt we had gelded was bleeding from the procedure more than I was comfortable with so I called into the office. The vet's wife (and receptionist) told me to run cold water over the area to help the blood vessels close up.
So here I am, dressed in white overalls, running water up the private parts of a still groggy colt. Well, the water did NOT constrict the blood vessels - instead it broke loose whatever clot had been slowing down the bleeding and I had a gusher. I had someone else call back to the vet's office while I grabbed a stack of towels and began applying pressure.
The vet's assistant later told me when the vet got the message, he did a U-turn on the interstate and drove - at rush hour - through the ditches and on the sides to get back to our farm. By the time they got there I was red up to both shoulders and almost to my waist (remember those formerly white overalls?) and the wash rack pad was covered in blood. The vet had to re-sedate the colt, lay him down and take a few stitches in strategic places.
The vet was very reassuring - he said despite the apparent volume of blood the colt had probably only lost a quart or so. The next day the colt was doing great, only a little sore, as were all his buddies.
This was one reason that vet told me he hated getting emergency calls from me since I seldom had the routine emergencies most horse people did. Most of my calls were situations like this one or things he had to do research on to treat.
Then there is the old internet story about wax hair removal that women can relate to: https://tinajay.blogspot.com/2005/09/waxing-funniest-story-ever.html
Shaved in the shape of a heart... 
Hostas are tough little buggers, but I wanted to get to them before they became monstrous. If you're dividing any sort of plants and don't have a hori-hori knife, the best gardening tool ever, run out immediately and get one.
Thanks for the education! I have to be careful around knives, and chisels...any kind of blade. After never cutting myself most of my life, I've had several injuries and resultant stitches in recent years. I would post pics, but I'd probably get juried or whatever it is called.
I admire people like you who "divide plants", because it sounds like you have some knowledge of gardening. I don't really. I can't identify flowers very well, and I have no idea how to take care of them. I'm pretty good at pruning and mulching, that's about it. 