Tree-mend-us-ly, berry good
Okay, that was stupid. But we get bonus points for rescuing our small stand of red oak trees: food!
When we moved in there were 'inner tube' planter beds around the oaks. You know, a circle of border edging filled with plants that would never choose to grow right next to the base of a tree.
As a matter of style, I hold 'inner tube' beds on a par with pink flamingoes and cars on blocks. And it's not so good for the trees.
[I imagine the evolution of the inner tube bed goes something like this: Bubba plants tree and mulches per nursery instructions. Bubba admires his work but notices mulch looks a little plain. Thinks, we should plant somethin' there, and promptly does so, forgetting (or not understanding) that the point of the mulch is to help protect the young tree roots from dryness and competition.]
Anyway when we moved in, the liriope (giant monkey grass) was thriving, but the oaks were mostly leafless and bedraggled. We spent a week prying away the concrete edging with a crowbar, because the liriope had rooted into it, and digging up the liriope. Hombre got the workout of the year doing that.
Things we discovered when we got rid of the liriope: frogs, snakes, lizards, a good-sized softleaf yucca, a thorny mystery vine and about a million huge cockroaches nesting in the jungle. Plus the fact that the liriope was so overgrown that its roots had made an above-ground mat about four inches thick. Eww.
But now we have something so much better. The oaks have leafed out! Even some of the sections that our arborist feared were dead have tender new leaves. He told us that removing the liriope helped save the oaks, that inner tube beds kill trees.
And the mystery vine? Dewberry. Covered in white blossoms. I am counting the days to dewberry-peach pie.
When we moved in there were 'inner tube' planter beds around the oaks. You know, a circle of border edging filled with plants that would never choose to grow right next to the base of a tree.
As a matter of style, I hold 'inner tube' beds on a par with pink flamingoes and cars on blocks. And it's not so good for the trees.
[I imagine the evolution of the inner tube bed goes something like this: Bubba plants tree and mulches per nursery instructions. Bubba admires his work but notices mulch looks a little plain. Thinks, we should plant somethin' there, and promptly does so, forgetting (or not understanding) that the point of the mulch is to help protect the young tree roots from dryness and competition.]
Anyway when we moved in, the liriope (giant monkey grass) was thriving, but the oaks were mostly leafless and bedraggled. We spent a week prying away the concrete edging with a crowbar, because the liriope had rooted into it, and digging up the liriope. Hombre got the workout of the year doing that.
Things we discovered when we got rid of the liriope: frogs, snakes, lizards, a good-sized softleaf yucca, a thorny mystery vine and about a million huge cockroaches nesting in the jungle. Plus the fact that the liriope was so overgrown that its roots had made an above-ground mat about four inches thick. Eww.
But now we have something so much better. The oaks have leafed out! Even some of the sections that our arborist feared were dead have tender new leaves. He told us that removing the liriope helped save the oaks, that inner tube beds kill trees.
And the mystery vine? Dewberry. Covered in white blossoms. I am counting the days to dewberry-peach pie.
Labels: eco-geekery, my victory garden
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