The tractor and I got to work on cleaning the tree debris up from the back yard yesterday. The wind kicked up and I could not take down the remaining trunk safely, so it was a fine time to get at the cleaning and taking out everything that was in the way already. This way, when I do get the last bit down, it will be that much easier to manage that.
This old poplar tree was planted by my grandmother when she moved into the house back in 2000. It grew fast, and shaded a decent little portion of the yard, so when it came time to put some pens in the yard, it was an attractive natural shelter for the placement of one of the pens. It turned out to be a bit of a mistake to put the goats in there. When the goats would get hungry, they lived to reach up and eat from whatever leaves they could reach. But eventually they ate from the bark of the trunk of the tree, and that killed it. Trees are basically dead in the heartwood, and the living portion is the sapwood, which is the outer few inches of the mass of the tree, and that bark is protecting it. With the bark eaten away, that thin living layer is exposed, and I would imagine loses moisture there, and basically cuts off the rest of the tree. But whatever is the actual cause, this tree was left dead standing, and is already dry and ready to burn as I cut it.
I am thrilled to open this portion of the yard. The tree was too close to the house for its size. It was in fact also too close to the barn, and the sheds we have put in. It was in a pretty bad spot for a full grown tree, though I imagine it seemed fine when it was planted. But that’s how it goes with trees. People seem to put them in when they are small and don’t think of how big they will get, or how their removal will be managed, or even how to manage their growth as they grow. There are trees all about that are planted right below power lines, and have to be butchered at peril to live and limb as they approach the lines. I refuse to put a tree under any of the power lines that traverse our property. It makes no sense to do it. There should be something like fifty feet between the trunk and the land straight below the line. Otherwise there is risk of fire, power outages, and the lives of tree cutters and linemen who have to come and work these dangers. That’s my rant about it. Maybe I should send it to Lewis Black.
We have five shade trees remaining on the property now. Two are tiny walnut trees that are taking a very long time to grow. One is a maple tree I planted for my wife one Mother’s Day. One is a cedar that remains in the back of the house, and is the last of the old trees from before we moved here in 2o12. The largest is a willow in the front yard that we planted some seven years ago or so. It seemed like the dirt there was moist, and it would have the opportunity to grow well. I was fairly well spaced from the water line, and as long as we keep it under control, well enough from the house and the garage. But I will have to control it, and top it to prevent it from becoming massive, and endangering them towards the end of its life. I am planning to do a good cut on it this winter and cut away a few of the lower large branches to raise the height of the canopy for shade and space under it. Right now, there is not room to walk under it. I am fairly insistent that a tree can be walked under, especially if there is a path there, without having to duck to avoid injury. But that’s another one of my rants. As to the height, I know Missus wants that controlled so the tree does not overwhelm the house. It is growing well to shape the canopy so it does not lean towards the house or garage, so should it fall, it goes towards the road or the open part of the front yard. It is still a ways from the road, so that prevents any danger there.
It is obvious from this description that the yard around our house is large enough to manage a tree they way I believe it should be. So many houses these days are not built to manage a tree at all. So for all of my rants and complaining, none of it applies to those places where all hope of beauty and shade is lost where my general rules just won’t work at all. That is where I think I’d say the heck with it, and put the tree in anyway.
Among my five-tree count for our property, I left out the Aspen stand that is at the back corner of the house. We have a space of about forty-feet square that we have Aspen trees trying to grow. It is working out a little way from the house. But the insurance company somehow saw that we had a couple of trees growing next to the house, and they touched the metal roof with their leaves. So, they sent me a letter threatening to drop our insurance if we don’t remove them. The trees were barely taller than the bottom of the roofline, and in no real danger of damaging the house if they fell. They only brushed the bottom of the roof in the wind. Ridiculous! But I cut them down, and we are left alone to pay our premiums and never ever make a claim. That is what I found really insulting about the threat. We have carried this insurance for years and never made a claim. I also hated how they took control of my yard in that way. I used to live to sit in the room at that part of the house and watch the shadows of the trunk and leaves on the window blind as the sun set that side.
There is a lot to experience with trees, and ours include apple trees that are not meant for shade. They are dwarf trees that are planted in a sort of orchard area on the northwest corner of the acre property the house is on. There are apple and plumb trees there. They have not been adequately productive to enjoy apples yet. Last winter I trimmed them properly for the first time because they were finally large enough to begin to manage without killing them. I’ll do the same again this year, taking greater care to try to cut them for fruit growth and less for tree growth. There are certain branches that are fruiting, and ones that are left to shape them. Obviously, I will shape them all, but I would like to see the larger ones growing some fruit. We had more apples come from them this year than any before. But we did not have ones large enough to really eat.
We have an old apple tree that stands apart from the orchard. It is affectionately ‘the old apple tree.’ It always produces black and diseased apples. I wonder if it can be saved. I don’t know fruit trees well enough. I trimmed it last winter, and it was in much better shape to grow fruit, and it did. I will try again this year, and see what I can salvage of it. It is a tree that has not been managed at all till then. It used to stand in a horse pasture till we arranged the fences differently. It is a wonder it survived at all through that. I guess my hope is that I can trim it for health, and give it a chance to fight off the disease, but I doubt trees work that way at all. I will see if I can get to to be productive though, as it is as good of practice as any that I get it to do it.
We have many trees on our place. They are almost all pretty small. There are only a couple that are big enough to create shade now. The biggest is the one that is lay between where it stood and the door of the woodstove. The oldest is ‘the old apple tree.’ They all have their purpose, and all create a bit of joy and will eventually create even more. They are not set to create headaches where they are as they grow to their fullness. And that alone makes me very happy.