I love this site! If you are looking for any kind of tree, I highly recommend using the site for research…and if you buy, they do a great job getting the trees to you fast!

https://www.fast-growing-trees.com

Rogue inspected the package when UPS delivered it! Both trees in one box…liking it!

• 

• 

This one is a Autumn Blaze Red Maple Tree, I got the 5-6′ version of this because I really want it to take and we had better luck with the mother’s tree in the front yard when we got an older tree! (I don’t think I blogged about the “mother’s tree“, but I will because it’s an important little ‘cloud plum tree’, I will link this page when I write that story…)

• 

• 

and this one is a Weeping Willow…I got a smaller version of this tree because they are water trees…and this one is now planted about 10-15′ from the creek, so I am hoping that it will be happy from day 1!

• 

• 

You see my measuring stick?? Isn’t she cute?? I will have her measure again in the Spring! This should be fun!

I went and picked up a truckload of firewood…they haven’t cut the whole winter of trees because of employee issues as well as equipment problems, but I was told that they would be out of firewood by the end of October, so I need to go grab another load (probably next weekend).

So now the cleanup begins…lots of pine needles, lots of pine mulch, lots of holes that need to be filled in (the rain made for softer ground)…yep, Kev’s guys worked in the rain!

• 

• 

I started in the back because the dogs need their space. I wanted to get the pine needles wrangled into one space and since there are 2 big holes from the stump grinding, that’s where it will go after I fill in the crop circle with pine needles and then top it off with 6-8 bags of top soil…and grass seed!

I put the fence back in place until the I can get all of the pine goo out…which may end up being next spring because of vacation and then planting trees and more grass seed and then it may get cold in the “fall”. (maybe)

I also did a little fixing in the side yard…between the trucks sinking and tearing everything up, there are alot of spots that need filling in. I will probably wait until spring to plant grass seed…

• 

• 

We go on vacation in a few weeks so I need to set some things into motion, but not get to far ahead of myself. I want to plant a weeping willow and and Autumn Blaze Maple Tree near the bamboo line for water control and shade.

This was a big decision and I hate taking down trees, but the Cyprus gum tree was falling a few pieces at a time (Kev’s tree guys called it the widow maker)…and the (6) 75-100′ pine trees were not as healthy as they looked. Originally I wanted to remove just the 2 in the yard, the branches have been falling more and more over the winters and summer storms and the squirrels starting to damage them, but Kev looked at all 6 of them and said that I should remove all of them, that they are too close together, they are damn near as high as they will grow and that storms will start dropping them. One of the main reason has been that the pine trees have been hard on the dogs over the years, the sap gets between the pads on there feet and then hardens making it painful and impossible to remove.

Here are a couple before pictures. the first one has the cyprus gum tree on the left and all 6 pine trees…2 on each side of the shed and 2 behind it.

• 

• 

See my little 10’x10′ shed?

They needed to squeeze the bucket truck between the pine trees and the neighbors shed…there was an inch (no exaggeration) between the truck and the neighbors shed. (I was impressed, so was the neighbor). Fran had also hired Kev to shred the stump in his patio area, so we were both out there watching the entire thing unfold….

You can see in this picture that this tree was either sick or dying. Just about every branch they removed had rot in it.

Once the cyprus tree came down, they needed to bring the crane in to move the logs to the front yard. I asked them if they could be super conscious of the electric wires and the fios cables (since I was working)…

• 

• 

• 

• 

Tomorrow, I plan on going down to Kev’s yard an getting the first load of firewood and doing some cleanup, I want to use some of the shredded stuff to fill in the pool hole and take some after pictures. So maybe more pictures tomorrow…

After I finished putting down the rubber mulch nuggets, I wanted to be sure that this was really the fix before I bought anymore to finish it up…so for a few weeks and a few rain storms later, I am convinced! I have mosquito relief!

Last weekend I decided to fill in the pool hole, so I placed an order on homedepot.com for 800 pounds of fill dirt, while I was on the website, I also ordered a landscaping border to keep the rubber mulch in. Of course when I picked up the order of dirt, they did NOT have the border in stock, so I needed to wait until it was shipped to the store (picked it up yesterday after my bike ride with Mike).

Today’s goal of putting the edging in place and adding more rubber mulch has been accomplished, as well as getting the (20) 40lb bags of dirt out of the truck! I think it looks great!!

• 

•