Sunday, May 22, 2011

A Gardeners Omelet

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There is a saying: "If you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs." Meaning if you want to make or change to something better, sometimes you have to destroy something else in the process.  That is the price of progress.

The egg in my case was a 30 ft October Glory Red Maple tree that I planted in 2003. It is planted in the back of my yard up on a hill. It is a great tree, but it is just in the worst spot for my garden up there. I also have another Autumn Blaze Red Maple that I planted in 2005 that is in the direct line of sight of the tree I want to remove. So looking from the front of my house, you can't even really see this tree because the Autumn blaze is in front of it.  If you look at my corn along the fence, it is growing in a perfect U shape. The middle of the corn gets some shade from the tree where as the outer edges of the corn do not. Removing the tree will also let me expand my planting area from 4X25 to 16X25, which is substantial. The soil on that hill is very sandy and loamy, unlike the Georgia clay in most of my yard.

So today after much consideration, I removed all the limbs about 12 feet up the tree.  Now my corn is getting equal sun all the time. I will cut down the rest of the tree at some other time.


You can see the slight shade the tree puts on the corn.

This is the corn from a distance after I removed several of the limbs. Notice the U shape of the corn along the fence.  The corn on the edges is 1 to 2 feet higher than the middle

Another view from my back patio, you can see the Autumn Blaze directly below in front of the rock wall.
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6 comments:

Annie*s Granny said...

When you get that maple tree out, will you come work on my neighbor's walnut tree and the volunteer maple she has growing into my new fence? If allowed to grow, the maple will probably eventually be the end of my garden. The walnut tree is already causing shade problems, as well as being full of dead branches that fall on my garden....and once on my head.

Kris said...

I am sorry to hear that about your neighbors trees. I have a similar situation with one of my neighbors pine trees. They are shading some of my SFG beds. Have you thought about asking her to cut it down? I offered to pay for half if my neighbor cut down two of the worst looking pine trees that are leaning towards my house. It didn't work in my case, but it might be worth a try for you.

Annie*s Granny said...

It's the new owner next door, the same one who doesn't pull the dead tomato vines/beans/squash from the garden along the fence. We had to have a wind damaged tree removed in 2008, and it cost nearly $2000. I don't think I want to offer to pay half! Another neighbor has asked her and volunteered her husband to help, but so far I've not heard if she got an answer.

Kris said...

Wow, that must have been a massive tree to cost that much money. Well, things always have a way of working out, hopefully this will too.

Cristy said...

I love this post. I have been having to do a little "gardener's omelet" for my garden too, but not as much work as digging out trees. I've had to yank my yellow peppers. They have done dismally and I think I bought some that were diseased. I hated to pull them, but after your post, I went and did it this morning. I feel better already. :) Maybe now I can actually get a crop from that little square foot of ground.

Kris said...

Thanks Cristy, it seems like there is always something to do or correct in a garden. I guess that is part of the fun of it.