Day After the Trees Come Down, May 21, 2009

We had hoped to leave for the condo, today. However, the tree cutters left two huge mounds of ground up tree trunk (mulch) on top of each place where the trees once stood. They hauled off all the branches and trunk sections, but wouldn't remove the mulch without charging extra. When we awoke this morning and realized how quickly this moist stuff was decomposing, we decided we had better deal with it and postpone our trip for one day.

We raked the entire yard in an effort to eradicate it of dead pine needles that had flown around during the preceding winter months and planted themselves in the grass. We discovered that the mulch from the Austrian Pine was worthless because it was full of needles. Pine needles kill grass and so, we didn't want to use it in the flower beds. Using a pitchfork, we put this stuff in the wheelbarrow and hauled it to the utility trailer to take to the dump later. We had some sand piled up by the window and shoveled that up to be hauled away. Then I raked out the bed around the smaller pine tree and Japanese Maple to get rid of all the needles that had fallen there, mixing in with the bark. I combed every branch of that little Pine Tree because it was covered with pine needles that had fallen from the bigger tree and had become a breeding place for spiders. It seemed to really appreciate the attention. Then I took mulch from the remains of the Locust tree and filled in around these two trees. I gleaned the larger bark from these rakings and threw them back. I worked all day and still have two smaller rakings to sort threw, but these will wait until after Memorial Day.

A round patch of dirt where the Honey Locust once stood.

The smaller pine tree can now show off, and hopefully the Japanese Maple will be able to upright itself and grow more symmetrically now that it doesn't live in the shadow of the Austrian Pine. Grass killed out by the Austrian Pine can now be replanted.