The Walnut gets Trimmed ~

With the damaging wind storms, the local tree companies have been swamped with work.  Bill at TNT did the first work we needed on the Home Place in May of 2017.  The removal of a big, overgrown Mulberry at the east end of the house.  It had created quite a mess & we didn't want it coming down in a storm.

Mulberry~

Our beautiful Walnut out front, was carrying a full, heavy load of walnuts when the storms came through.  Each broke a few branches.  Butch cut out what he could reach with the ladder, the rest were too high.

Walnut, 8-26-2021

I was mowing all morning & just ready to stop for lunch when Bill & George pulled up.  We discussed the tree's damage.  We'd had it professionally pruned by an arborist the first spring we were here.  Since then, it had grown & grown!  Bill explained to me how some of the branches could contribute to the tree getting significant damage, if they weren't removed.

Bill goes to work~

After a short break, I was anxious to go back out & watch Bill at work.  I helped haul branches to the chipper.  

Yard full of branches!

It wasn't long before the yard was full of small limbs.  The chipper was going full speed.  I wanted the chips for my trails.  Walnut trees are allelopathic, so the chips can't be applied around bedding plants.  They should work well for my trails though.

I also asked Bill to cut down a tree at the edge of the forest. It's been in the process of dying off for several years now.  In no time it was down & I really appreciated the mess hauled away!  It took just about three-hours to get the job done. 

The grass for a huge distance around the tree, was literally covered with walnuts!  You couldn't walk the sidewalk without chancing a slip & fall.  About the time I was wondering how I'd ever get them all picked up, the boys next door came home from school!  I asked if they were interested in earning some money picking up walnuts?

My hard working "crew"~

I pulled all Farah's old buckets out of the horse trailer & walnuts were flying into them!  Soon, we had the wheelbarrow full!  We emptied that load & filled it again before we were finished!  I really enjoyed the company of the kids!  What a hard-working crew they were!  Mom & little sister came by to help with the last few :-)

All done~

All the limbs overhanging the house were trimmed back.  Bill said the tree will "fluff" out again next spring.  I'll miss all the shade, but with fall around the corner, the leaves will soon be dropping anyway.  It's the first tree to lose it's leaves & the last to open them.  I'm just happy it's healthy & the main limbs are all strong & rot free.