WHO CUTS GRASS FOR FREE AND WHY YOU DO IT?

[Blaine B.]

That would be the dream. A lot of surrounding yard with my home in the center. Acres of grass surrounding my home.

I'm not much of a fan of trees because all of the leaves and twigs and everything. I have a neighbor with a huge tree that sits maybe 5 feet from the property line. All I ever do is pick up twigs, leaves, and other crap that it drops all over my yard. I wanted to cut all of the branches that hung over my yard, but the neighbor would not allow access to his property for the contractor. So I got the largest A-Frame ladder I could get and I scurried up there two summers ago and used a pole cutter to cut as high as I could.

I cut piles and pile of branches but I could only cut 20-30 feet in the air. It did make an impact but it wasn't significant. There are just less branches hanging low.

All of the debris that the tree sheds gets on my nerves somewhat, because it is a constant year-round clean-up routine. I wish the ash borer bugs would get in there already. They have been causing havoc on hundreds of trees in my town the past two years. Hundreds of trees have been cut down due to the EAB.

 

[exotion]

That would be the dream. A lot of surrounding yard with my home in the center. Acres of grass surrounding my home.

I'm not much of a fan of trees because all of the leaves and twigs and everything. I have a neighbor with a huge tree that sits maybe 5 feet from the property line. All I ever do is pick up twigs, leaves, and other crap that it drops all over my yard. I wanted to cut all of the branches that hung over my yard, but the neighbor would not allow access to his property for the contractor. So I got the largest A-Frame ladder I could get and I scurried up there two summers ago and used a pole cutter to cut as high as I could.

I cut piles and pile of branches but I could only cut 20-30 feet in the air. It did make an impact but it wasn't significant. There are just less branches hanging low.

All of the debris that the tree sheds gets on my nerves somewhat, because it is a constant year-round clean-up routine. I wish the ash borer bugs would get in there already. They have been causing havoc on hundreds of trees in my town the past two years. Hundreds of trees have been cut down due to the EAB.

That tree has more of a right to be there than you do... Just saying

 

[Blaine B.]

We could say that for an unlimited amount of things as civilization has grown, including your home and where it sits. If you want to get snappy about it.

Wherever humans live, nature will suffer in one way or another. If you aren't comfortable with that, there is only one solution.

 

[exotion]

We could say that for an unlimited amount of things as civilization has grown, including your home and where it sits. If you want to get snappy about it.

Wherever humans live, nature will suffer in one way or another. If you aren't comfortable with that, there is only one solution.

"I wanna cut it down because it makes a mess". Really? God forbid something causes you to spend a few minutes cleaning up, nevermind that it provides homes to nature, makes oxygen, acts as a wind break.

I get so tired of that mentality I get it all the time up here in Washington with pine trees. Pine needles are a year round deal so people just cut them down for no real reason. If it was diseased, leaning over a house, threatening lives. Those are reason twigs and leaves are not.

 

[Blaine B.]

There are plenty of other trees in areas that are not a nuisance.

Reducing nuisances is a good thing.

You are nuisance upon nature yourself, you know?

 

[exotion]

Yes but cutting down a tree that is 50-100+ years old because it inconveniences you is bull. Yes I am a nucance (spelling sorry) upon nature so why would I make that worse by cutting more of her down. Because of some twigs and leaves. Here is an idea take that section of your lawn and do some landscape there. Maybe a nice mulch bed where you don't regularly have to deal with them but maybe once and a while. Juniper is a good one the sticks fall on it and the plant will litterly make them disapear lol (the kidney of nature) now not only are you leaving that tree alone but now you have another plant and a landscaped area.

Oh and props for your neighbor for not letting your contractor in

 

[Shughes717]

This thread started out so positive. How did it get to arguing about trees? I agree that we should not cut trees that have been around for over a century by the way. Beautiful and provide awesome shade in the summer. Let's get back to those great story's about cutting grass for free and why we do it. I have seen some inspiring posts on here about that.

 

[exotion]

This thread started out so positive. How did it get to arguing about trees? I agree that we should not cut trees that have been around for over a century by the way. Beautiful and provide awesome shade in the summer. Let's get back to those great story's about cutting grass for free and why we do it. I have seen some inspiring posts on here about that.

Agreed!

 

[Blaine B.]

Yes but cutting down a tree that is 50-100+ years old because it inconveniences you is bull. Yes I am a nucance (spelling sorry) upon nature so why would I make that worse by cutting more of her down. Because of some twigs and leaves. Here is an idea take that section of your lawn and do some landscape there. Maybe a nice mulch bed where you don't regularly have to deal with them but maybe once and a while. Juniper is a good one the sticks fall on it and the plant will litterly make them disapear lol (the kidney of nature) now not only are you leaving that tree alone but now you have another plant and a landscaped area.

Oh and props for your neighbor for not letting your contractor in

It's only a matter of time. It looks much more bare this year than usual. The EAB has infested hundreds of trees throughout the community. Maybe it is already in this one.

And, the tree is less than 30 years old, if that matters to you at all (probably not)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for a "hopefully" quick death to this nuisance tree. I would love to be able to have a sunny backyard.

 

[bt3]

Interesting thread. I once mowed a neighbor's lawn for an entire summer when she lost her husband. I felt it was the humane thing to do for her. Bless her heart. I never asked her, I just started mowing her lawn for her. Back then I had a Lawn Tractor so it was not that bad.



Speaking of trees, when I bought my first home 30 years ago, it was basically a tree-free flat open 1/2 acre lot.

I planted fruit trees, shade trees, and some threes just for show like Japanese Maple and Mountain Ash. Then I promptly moved a few years later. Broke my wife's heart. Just as the fruit trees were bearing for the first time and the mountain ash was in full glory, we move.

So we said, "From Now ON, we want an ESTABLISHED WOODED LOT!"

Well, 25 years later, the established wooded lot is not all milk and honey. The trees are huge. Some threaten the house. One fell during a horrible thunderstorm and crushed a car we had in the driveway. One fell on the roof and caused damage. I've taken down about 5 or 6 just because they were diseased and ready to fall on their own. Some were so big I had to hire a tree service. I'm not comfortable when I've got a 75 foot diseased tree leaning toward the house to fall it on my own.

Yes, I like the shade a wooded lot provides. It's very nice. But I do remember the old house and the great garden and the nice lawn with plenty of sunshine on the lawn and no roots to mow over or suck up moisture and nutrients from the lawn and no debris to pick up after wind storms. It's hard for me to have a decent lawn in the back with the trees. And every windstorm, if I don't lose a tree, I have 3 hours of picking up branches and twigs before I can mow. And in the Fall? Yikes. Weeks and weeks of picking up leaves. If I stay at it every other day with the mulching mower, I can mulch 90 percent of these and do one final fall bagging with the mower. There are pluses and minuses to wooded lots. But I do like them. They are just more work than I had envisioned.