Now that they're gone, the house feels really exposed! It's kind of weird!
Showing posts with label trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trees. Show all posts
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Boulevard Tree Removal
Our two boulevard trees were removed this morning. They were supposed to be removed last fall, but oh well. I had called the city Forestry Department because the trees were much too big for the one-foot wide boulevard space they had and were ruining our sidewalks. Turns out they won't remove the trees for that reason! !!! But he had already been keeping an eye on those trees because he noticed that the tops of semi-trucks are hitting the trees-- #1 because our road makes cars & trucks drive right up against the non-existent curb and #2 because the trees are too big for their location. He agreed they should come down and that they will not plant replacements.
Now that they're gone, the house feels really exposed! It's kind of weird!
Now that they're gone, the house feels really exposed! It's kind of weird!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Sicky Elm Tree - Update
So, our lovely treehouse elm has been taken down. We cut it down on Friday evening, and today we dealt with the branches and logs.
There are no pictures, I didn't bother. It wasn't fun and it wasn't exciting.
It was just sad.
There are no pictures, I didn't bother. It wasn't fun and it wasn't exciting.
It was just sad.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Sicky Elm Tree
Oh, I'm so sad! Came home today to find this note in our mailbox:
Our treehouse elm has Dutch Elm Disease and needs to be cut down. Soon.
We had noticed recently that it looked wilted and a couple small branches had died off. And what we just learned about Dutch Elm is that by the time the tree starts looking sick, it's pretty much too late to save it.
And here's the bright orange paint to go along with the letter...
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The first time we saw the house, even though there were a dozen trees around this house, we both looked at this elm and thought it would be the best place for a tree house for our kids someday.
It's a beautiful tree. Verrry big. The branches extend over the sidewalk and part of the street on the side of our property. I think this part looks so pretty.
We want to replace the fence some day, and had planned to move it to the other side of the tree, to get this tree more "in" our yard.
The view from the back yard...
Elm canopy meeting up with the backyard ash, far overhead...
*sigh*.....
Monday, June 17, 2013
Trimming the Ash in the Backyard
Once K and I were moved into our house for a bit, we thought we'd have to cut down 2 massive trees in our yard-- the elm directly behind our house and the ash off to the side of the house. But after cutting down the elm, our tree-trimming-master neighbor suggested that we just trim up the ash in order to get more sunlight in the yard. Like, drastically trim it.
We thought it was worth a try. Worst case, we could always take down the whole tree later if we hated it. But I really doubt we'll be doing that now-- the tree looks great! And there is SOO much sunlight in our yard!! We can actually have grass now, and a garden-- not just dirt!
Gloomy, always dark, damp, buggy. Grass only growing in the patches where the sun could reach.
And the trimming process... 
What remains:(We did take care of trimming off all the stubs-- I just took this picture before that.)
And now... All this glorious sunlight in our backyard! It was so lovely to see the sun hitting each new patch of ground as each branch came off. And the tree will still provide a bit of shade when we want it. The best of both worlds.
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Monday, May 13, 2013
Taking Down The Tree
First of all, I want to say that I really have mixed feelings about this particular project. It's been very hard for me to participate in the destruction of such a large living thing... But I was able to talk myself into being positive about it because of three things:
1) The tree was not healthy. It has some kind of disease-- not Dutch Elm, I don't think, because the bark is fine. But the leaves were really weird looking last year-- it looked like bugs were burrowed into them. I'm still trying to identify what caused that. A bunch of the big branches had been dead for years, and it was scary to have those reaching near our house and power-lines during storms.
2) K needs to build her garage. Where this tree stands is the best place to put the garage. It's right behind the house, just off of the alley, and it makes the most sense for moving vehicles and her work trailers in and out. The sooner she builds this garage, the better! There are so many projects for the house that she can be working on in the garage -- shelves, kitchen cabinets, trim, etc.
3) We have so many other trees! Last year, our yard was just a JUNGLE! It was all leaves and barely any sunlight hitting the ground. Once this tree is gone, we will still have a bunch of medium-sized trees along the alley, a line of tall trees along the railroad track, a large ash in the side-yard, another huge elm just outside of our fence, the craggy crab-apple tree in the front, and at least 2 trees along the street (these probably belong to the city). We are basically ringed by trees, which still offer great protection from the wind, and probably still give more shade than I want. I'd like to have a garden this year.
K and our neighbor have plans to do a great trade this year -- he used to be a tree-trimmer, so he helped us cut down this tree! And in return, she'll build him a nice-sized shed in his yard. A couple days' work for each of them and everyone wins! Bartering is still alive and well, when it comes to home-owning neighbors.
Three hours of work on the tree on Saturday, and about 1/5th of the branches were cut down. This is what resulted:
And then a FULL day of work on Sunday. We were out there all day! K was out there way past dark.
Now it's down to just the trunk! Amazing!:
We also have a gigantic brush pile, now, with all the branches. We'll rent a chipper and turn this all into a huge pile of mulch for the garden and yard. And more firewood than we'll need for a while! Next year, these logs should be ready to burn.
1) The tree was not healthy. It has some kind of disease-- not Dutch Elm, I don't think, because the bark is fine. But the leaves were really weird looking last year-- it looked like bugs were burrowed into them. I'm still trying to identify what caused that. A bunch of the big branches had been dead for years, and it was scary to have those reaching near our house and power-lines during storms.
2) K needs to build her garage. Where this tree stands is the best place to put the garage. It's right behind the house, just off of the alley, and it makes the most sense for moving vehicles and her work trailers in and out. The sooner she builds this garage, the better! There are so many projects for the house that she can be working on in the garage -- shelves, kitchen cabinets, trim, etc.
3) We have so many other trees! Last year, our yard was just a JUNGLE! It was all leaves and barely any sunlight hitting the ground. Once this tree is gone, we will still have a bunch of medium-sized trees along the alley, a line of tall trees along the railroad track, a large ash in the side-yard, another huge elm just outside of our fence, the craggy crab-apple tree in the front, and at least 2 trees along the street (these probably belong to the city). We are basically ringed by trees, which still offer great protection from the wind, and probably still give more shade than I want. I'd like to have a garden this year.
K and our neighbor have plans to do a great trade this year -- he used to be a tree-trimmer, so he helped us cut down this tree! And in return, she'll build him a nice-sized shed in his yard. A couple days' work for each of them and everyone wins! Bartering is still alive and well, when it comes to home-owning neighbors.
Three hours of work on the tree on Saturday, and about 1/5th of the branches were cut down. This is what resulted:
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| My adorable lumberjack |
And then a FULL day of work on Sunday. We were out there all day! K was out there way past dark.
Now it's down to just the trunk! Amazing!:
We also have a gigantic brush pile, now, with all the branches. We'll rent a chipper and turn this all into a huge pile of mulch for the garden and yard. And more firewood than we'll need for a while! Next year, these logs should be ready to burn.
Friday, April 26, 2013
What A Difference A Week Makes!
Last Friday, we has just gotten like 7 or 8 inches of snow, and I took all those "Winter Wonderland" pictures that were in my last post.
Today, it was 78 degrees! We completely skipped Spring, and went straight from Winter to Summer in one week. When I got home from work today, K was already in the front yard for our first day of yard work this year.
When we bought the house, the front yard had 3 enormous over-grown bushes, 2 smaller over-grown bushes, and 2 badly-cared-for trees in it. And there's another one of the enormous bushes in the side yard, and a long row of lilac bushes in the back yard that really need some care.
Basically, every plant in the entire yard has been neglected for about a dozen years!
Last year, Kristy immediately ripped out the smaller bushes near our front door, and the giant bush near the door. We planted some grass seed over the giant dirt patch that remained, and as of now, it's almost all filled in and not very noticeable.
So today we got to work taking out the remaining 2 giant bushes, and starting to trim around the trees in the front yard.
The bushes are fairly easy-- just a bit tedious. You have to reach under and cut each branch. And then tackle the root ball and get that out of the ground.
K went at the roots with like a pick-axe (I forgot what she called it). Very impressive! It helped to knock off as much dirt as possible to help make the big gob a little lighter as she/we lifted it out of the ground and into the wheel barrow.
Meanwhile, I worked on trimming around this wonderful, craggly-looking tree. Honestly, just looking at it, it was difficult to tell if the thing was even alive, since it seems to still be hibernating (not that I'm surprised, with the weather we've been having). But I looked back in photos from last year and saw that it was leafy and full last year, with deep burgundy leaves. Really pretty.
The problem with this little tree, obviously, is how many new shoots it's been growing out of the ground. I trimmed as much as I could, and then K came back to hack at it more below the ground. And we're not done yet... It's a big job.
We're hoping, if it survives our surgery, that it will put its energy and nutrients into the branches above and that it will stay healthy longer. We're also removing the paving stones around the bottom of it.
And then there's a tree, kind of a double tree, right at the corner of our lot. We definitely want this to stay here, since it separates our yard from the sidewalks, and helps define our yard.
This poor thing... The tree seems to be doing okay-- it just has one rogue new trunk growing, and a handful of unnecessary branches. But at the bottom, it is COVERED in 10 years of dead leaves and litter, and what can only be described as the MOST EVIL THORN BUSH I have ever seen!
No kidding, this is the stuff that grew around Sleeping Beauty's castle and kept all the knights away for 100 years! It stabbed me through my gloves over and over. I was being so careful with it, and kept imagining what the people driving by were thinking. "Aw, look at the girl being all dainty with her yardwork and not wanting to get dirty." That wasn't it! I didn't want to get stabbed!!
We've also realized how BIG our front yard actually is! Now that the bushes aren't taking up half the space, we can see how much space we really have!
Today, it was 78 degrees! We completely skipped Spring, and went straight from Winter to Summer in one week. When I got home from work today, K was already in the front yard for our first day of yard work this year.
When we bought the house, the front yard had 3 enormous over-grown bushes, 2 smaller over-grown bushes, and 2 badly-cared-for trees in it. And there's another one of the enormous bushes in the side yard, and a long row of lilac bushes in the back yard that really need some care.
Basically, every plant in the entire yard has been neglected for about a dozen years!
Last year, Kristy immediately ripped out the smaller bushes near our front door, and the giant bush near the door. We planted some grass seed over the giant dirt patch that remained, and as of now, it's almost all filled in and not very noticeable.
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| June 2012 |
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| July 2012 |
So today we got to work taking out the remaining 2 giant bushes, and starting to trim around the trees in the front yard.
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| June 2012 |
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| April 2013... brown. |
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The bushes are fairly easy-- just a bit tedious. You have to reach under and cut each branch. And then tackle the root ball and get that out of the ground.
K went at the roots with like a pick-axe (I forgot what she called it). Very impressive! It helped to knock off as much dirt as possible to help make the big gob a little lighter as she/we lifted it out of the ground and into the wheel barrow.
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| The gnarled tree that has my heart! |
Meanwhile, I worked on trimming around this wonderful, craggly-looking tree. Honestly, just looking at it, it was difficult to tell if the thing was even alive, since it seems to still be hibernating (not that I'm surprised, with the weather we've been having). But I looked back in photos from last year and saw that it was leafy and full last year, with deep burgundy leaves. Really pretty.
The problem with this little tree, obviously, is how many new shoots it's been growing out of the ground. I trimmed as much as I could, and then K came back to hack at it more below the ground. And we're not done yet... It's a big job.
We're hoping, if it survives our surgery, that it will put its energy and nutrients into the branches above and that it will stay healthy longer. We're also removing the paving stones around the bottom of it.
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| Just like razor-wire... |
And then there's a tree, kind of a double tree, right at the corner of our lot. We definitely want this to stay here, since it separates our yard from the sidewalks, and helps define our yard.
This poor thing... The tree seems to be doing okay-- it just has one rogue new trunk growing, and a handful of unnecessary branches. But at the bottom, it is COVERED in 10 years of dead leaves and litter, and what can only be described as the MOST EVIL THORN BUSH I have ever seen!
No kidding, this is the stuff that grew around Sleeping Beauty's castle and kept all the knights away for 100 years! It stabbed me through my gloves over and over. I was being so careful with it, and kept imagining what the people driving by were thinking. "Aw, look at the girl being all dainty with her yardwork and not wanting to get dirty." That wasn't it! I didn't want to get stabbed!!
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| Thorns!! |
Well, we'll probably head back out tomorrow and keep going. We successfully got those 2 large bushes out of there, and now just have big dirt spots. Time for grass seed!
I'm thinking I should really go get a window box and some potted flowers to put out front, too. Quickest thing I can do to make the house look cared for. It will take a while to fill in these dirt spots and do some of the bigger projects. But anything we can do to make it look brighter and happier will help our curb appeal. And we definitely need that!
We've also realized how BIG our front yard actually is! Now that the bushes aren't taking up half the space, we can see how much space we really have!
Monday, April 22, 2013
What Happened to Spring??!
It just keeps snowing! It has been an extremely snowy April in Minneapolis this year. The snowiest April since 2002, we got 14 inches of snow from April 1st to the 18th. And it's snowing again right now, with an expected accumulation of 8 inches. Crap.
The really difficult thing about this weather is that we're having to postpone our plans for the yard. We need to take down the really big tree in the yard, because it's where K will be building her garage, and it's at least half-dead anyway. With every storm this year, we worried about branches coming down and hitting the power lines.
So, here it's near the end of April and K's garage is still only a plan. No tree down, no space ready, no permits pulled.
For now, we just have to keep hoping the snow will end and the sunny days will arrive. At the end of this week, we are supposed to have 70 degrees and sun. But the way this spring has been, we can't be sure it will stay!
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| Front of the house at midnight, very early a.m. of April 19th, 2013. |
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| Snowy alley... |
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| Snow-covered cable wires and power lines |
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| Tree in the back of the house, near the alley |
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| Snowy, silent street |
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| Fat 'lil robin is so confused! April 20th, 2013 |
So, here it's near the end of April and K's garage is still only a plan. No tree down, no space ready, no permits pulled.
For now, we just have to keep hoping the snow will end and the sunny days will arrive. At the end of this week, we are supposed to have 70 degrees and sun. But the way this spring has been, we can't be sure it will stay!
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