Updating My Old Homestead

I had already started writing a makeup review, but today turned out to be a big day around the old homestead. Actually, it started last week or really 5 months before that.

The Saga of the Loam

Back in May, I ordered 2.5 yards of a loam/compost mix (in other words, dirt) delivered to me. A big truck arrived and dumped a huge pile of dirt at the end of my driveway. I had no idea how much soil to order, and I more or less guessed at 2.5 yards. Boy, was that a lot of dirt!  This photo doesn’t do the pile justice, lol!

The Front Garden

My plan was to add soil to the big garden in the front of my house where I have too much stuff growing: a weeping cherry tree, 3 weigelia shrubs, 3 big hydrangeas, one Gibraltar azalea, one regular azalea, 3 Miss Kim lilacs, several huge hostas, several kinds of irises, and lots of hybrid day lilies. Over the 20 years I’ve lived in the house, the soil has eroded, and there wasn’t much soil to begin with. During several hot, sunny days in May, I shoveled loam into my wheelbarrow, wheeled it over to the garden, and shoveled it onto the garden. It was a lot of work!

The Endless Lawn Project

After I finished that project, I moved on to repairing my lawn. Like the front garden, the soil that makes up my lawn has compacted and eroded. The contractor who built the house hired all the cheapest sub-contractors who did the least work possible. My lawn had about an inch of soil left from the original about 3 inches of soil the sub-contractor laid down two decades ago, in spite of me adding soil to it over the years. The backyard was in worse shape than the front, so I started in the back. Again, I shoveled wheelbarrow full after wheelbarrow full of loam and pushed it over the rocks that lead to my backyard from the driveway where the loam pile was. Then I spread it on the lawn, added fertilizer and grass seed (dense shade in the areas shaded by the tall trees in the woods and sun & shade in the sunnier areas). To my delight, grass grew.

Once the back was finished, I went on to the side yards as well as to a few areas in the front that needed more soil and seed. I think the soil and seed lawn project took me till the end of June.

Between adding soil to the front garden and spreading loam on the lawn, I think I used about a yard and a half of the loam. Because of Jeff’s surgery this past summer, the pile of dirt sat there in the driveway for all of July and some of August, while I drove back and forth between the North Shore where I live and Boston where the hospital and Jeff’s doctors’ offices are.

The Saga of the Trees

In June, a weird thing started happening to my Eastern Ash tree that, years ago, Jeff had moved from the front yard to the side yard when he planted three pear trees in its place. The Ash tree started sprouting suckers from the middle of the trunk while the top of the tree had only a few sparse leaves and looked like it was dying. So strange.

Then, I remembered that about 3 or 4 summers ago, I noticed a gigantic insect (about 4 inches long) crawling on the tree trunk. I called Trugreen to come out to look at the tree, but by the time one of their men arrived, the insect was long gone. By doing a little research online, I discovered that the hideous insect was the Eastern Ash Borer, and he/she was eating the tree from the inside out. 

Looking at the bizarre tree this summer, I called an arborist from a local tree company to see if the tree could be saved. Sadly, I should have called them 3 or 4 years ago when I first saw the bug on the trunk. It was too late. Plus, the arborist told me that Ash trees attacked by the Eastern Ash Borer can easily fall down during a storm. He recommended removing it before winter.

I decided to also take down a couple of volunteer beech trees at the end of my driveway at the edge of the woods that had grown so tall they were threatening my deck.

Preparation

The lawn in the backyard looked great all summer. When I mowed it in September, it didn’t look as wonderful. So before we left for NC, I put down more soil and seed. I was thrilled when we returned that some of it was already growing.

Nevertheless, the pile of dirt at the end of the driveway was still massive and would be in the way of the tree guys. It had to go.

So last Thursday, just after we returned from our trip, I went outdoors and spent the day shoveling and applying loam in the backyard perennial border and gardens, everywhere that I could think of that needed more soil. And I put down more grass seed. That continued on Friday, Saturday and on Sunday, for hours and hours each day. On Sunday afternoon, just before it started to rain, I finished the last shovel full of loam. The pile is gone!

Tree Removal

Yesterday, the tree guys arrived around noon. They cut down the poor, eaten Ash tree, and now the blue juniper that was in back of it will be able to grow better.

They removed the two beech trees that I had originally asked them to remove as well as the two next to them. Now that part of the yard and my deck look more open, and they will get more sunlight. I bet the grass and day lilies will grow better there next year, too.

I noticed a little hickory tree with bright lemon yellow leaves growing in the wooded area behind the driveway, and as much as I love hickories, I’m going to cut it down before it gets too big. The same with the young white pine tree nearby.

While the men were there with their chipper, I asked what it would cost to take down two overgrown shrubs that were 20 year old foundation plantings, an overgrown spruce and a huge hinoki cypress that was taking up half of the front walkway. You can see them on the right in this photo taken in May after the new windows were installed. With the big shrubs on the right, one of the dining room windows is completely hidden.

For 50 extra bucks, it was well worth the price to have them gone! It will be much easier to look out the dining room windows now!

Although that front area looks barren at the moment, the azaleas will fill in since they will get more light (and I’ll cut them way back after they bloom in early May). Instead of adding new shrubs, I will plant peonies or other perennials in the empty spot. Hopefully, the golden hinoki will be able to “spread its wings” now that the overbearing juniper is gone.

I even had the guys trim the three big pear trees on the front lawn, so even I won’t have to duck when I mow the lawn.

My yard is definitely a work in progress, but it’s mostly fun doing it. Oh, I got a future cheese board out of the deal. When Kurt, one of the tree men, wanted to cut down the juniper stump a little closer to the ground, he left behind a nice piece of wood. After some sanding and a few coats of varnish or oil, it will make a cute cheese plate and reminder of the big green juniper tree!

Today's Author

Allison Cohen

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