Goodbye to a Maple
/Our maple that was damaged by a storm in late June was cut down in late July. All that was left was a stump surrounded by saw dust in our front yard and a pile of wood chips in our driveway. I dusted the stump off and discovered that I will need to sand it if I want to count the rings.
I had tentative plans for the wood chips, but they were left during a time when the heat and humidity was too high to work in the afternoon. All I got done the first morning after the tree was cut down was pulling the grass in the bed near my mailbox. I put as many wood chips as I could mash into the soil and surrounded the Missouri Evening Primrose with bricks. That project made a very small dent in pile.
The second day I was able to work for about an hour before 8 AM (the only time of day it was cool enough!) and put mulch around the stump and a dogwood tree.
The third day my daughter came to help. We got more done with both of us to loading the wheelbarrow, dumping it, and spreading out the mulch.
Quite a lot went into a low place in my yard (a large tree must have been cut down there a few years prior to when we bought the house) where I plan to add some landscaping plants; the places where the lawn mower had scalped the grass down to dirt helped me define the extent of the bowl. And then there was the base of the remaining maple where more mulch could be spread. I will probably hire a crew to create a bed that connects all three areas and do my plantings in the fall.
I had one more wheelbarrow and sweeping up the scattered chips left for the fourth day. The last wheelbarrow load were spread around the witch hazel I have planted in the backyard.
It took me about 4 hours to distribute all the wood chips. I’ve learned to drink a lot of water and pace myself when it is so hot and humid outside even in the morning. The 4 days allowed me to think more about what I want to do with the front yard too…and say goodbye to the maple as a tree knowing that its chips will stay close to where it grew.
