So, it's been a busy few weeks! So far, to date, I've gardened exclusively out of 5 gallon buckets and garage sale containers, which has been fun and created some wonderful flower explosions. I've also spent significant time each spring reclaiming dirt from the grass in the hopes of doing a perennial or veggie bed, only to move before the following spring. So now that we own a house, and with the outrageous cost of fresh, good produce, my dream was to have a sunny patch in my yard turned into a veggie bed. The catch was we have 23 trees on the property and very few areas that get much sun longer than a couple of hours after the trees leaf out, and I'd need to build beds. *sigh*
So, one afternoon Austin and I were playing outside and heard enthusiastic chainsawing, followed by a giant crack and crash the next street over. Naturally wanting to rubberneck and see what was going on, we quick headed over to see. They were in the process of cleaning up a giant maple tree out of the middle of the road! It was fun to watch skilled chainsawers go to town. Pete talked to the owner of the co. and he came over to our house to give us an estimate on getting rid of some of our weed trees and confirmed what I'd thought, that the huge maple in the front of our house was not going to spring to health with a little pruning...it was on the downward decline. So, while it was fun to watch woodpeckers go to town for a couple of warm days, Pete got the inspiration the next morning, went out and bought an axe, and went all Paul Bunyon on it, chopping 4 of the 5 huge trunks of it down! Holy cow! The final one came down with a chainsaw the next day when we turned all the trunks into property barriers and firewood.
Another big benefit of the tree coming down was that I now had a spot in my yard sunny enough for raised veggie beds!!
I was going to use some old reclaimed lumbar from a sandbox, but Dad said it was pressure treated, no good for veggie beds due to leaching. My next great scheme was to get some free pallets, chop them in half and use those for veggie beds (working within my budget of "free" he he). Then Dad sent me a link to some ideas for veggie beds, asked me what I'd really like to have, and shows up with these gorgeously crafted corner posts from red cedar, the lumbar to build 11 1/2" high raised beds...ahhh!!! Then I grabbed an "A" frame stand that Dad and Pete built last year to hold a hanging hammock chair and turned it into my hanging basket/upside-down tomato grower! I'm so stinkin' excited to have a garden!!
The final tackle once the beds were built and the tree was down was that we were left with this enormous root ball to excavate. I was feeling a little unsure how or whether we'd be able to get the beast out. Our idea was to root prune it down to the level of the sand (about 18" or so) where the roots didn't go down further and then "tease" it out of the dirt...with the Honda...lol. Then we called in the reinforcements. Dad's neighbor, Reg, is the one who helped Dad build his garage over the course of several years and proved invaluable in many ways. So, Dad and Reg came over and he seemed optimistic about it too, so I dared to hope. After some insane root pruning over a weeklong period, and some powerwashing of the roots to get rid of as much dirt as we could, it was time to pull.
Reg hooked up his big truck to the tree with a giant chain, and gave a gentle pull....nothing. So he tried a little more force, revved the engine and when it reached the end of the chain it snapped tight and the force of stopping so fast lifted the back end of his truck in the air. Crap. So after much manly debate they changed the angle of the truck and he gunned it again, SNAP! JUMP!...nothing. Again...Snap! Jump! ooh! A budge! The tree wiggled! Seriously, is this truck strong enough to pull a 10' root ball out? A few more times, same thing. And then I had to go to the grocery store to pick up stuff to feed a bunch of hungry, wet, cold men later. On the way home, I asked Austin if he thought the tree would still be in the dirt, or out. He answered, "In.", thought about it, and changed his answer, "Out of dirt." Okay...let's go check it out...
Here's what we came home to:
Now we've got to tackle the rootball! Another sunny day....
Now, it's time to go to the carousel with Austin :) Should be fun!
