What an incredible number of baby trees I've got!

[Kansas Terri]

Today I mowed the lawn instead of having my son do it, and I was horrified at the number of baby trees that need to be removed!

There have got to be HUNDREDS of the little things! There are trees in the fence, trees around the electric meter, trees in all of the garden beds, trees growing inside the lilac bushes, trees EVERYWHERE! I even have a foot tall walnut tree in the lawn, and I KNOW that it must have been mowed down more than once!

And, every last tree is of a type that is fast-growing, so if I neglect even one it will be huge before I know it!

It has been remarkably wet this year, and apparently every tree seed in the yard has sprouted and is growing. I had a walnut tree in the lawn that was a foot tall before I mowed it down, and I KNOW that that was not the first time that the baby tree had been mowed! That tree can be mowed: the other trees will have to be cut out one tree at a time.

Last year was a severe drought, and this year was incredibly wet. I wonder what next year will be like? I really want to have a bee hive in my garden again, but with the weather being so strange nobody’s hives have been doing well, and so I have put off buying bees.

 

[claudine]

Are you sure that you don't want to keep at least some of these trees? I mean, every baby tree is a gift that can turn into a big and beautiful tree I'm obsessed with trees, I can't help it. I love planting them, looking at them and being surrounded by them

 

[Kansas Terri]

Claudine, I ALSO love trees but I love other things as well!

I currently have two huge silver maples at the front of my house, a redbud tree, and a baby peach tree. In the back of the house I have a large sycamore tree, a large elm, 4 young dwarf fruit trees, a garden, and a home made greenhouse.

I do not have any more ROOM for another big tree! If I tried for another big tree there would not be enough light for anything else!!!

I love the silver maples by the way: they were one reason we bought this house. The trunks are about thee feet wide, Summers are hot here but there is always shade in the front yard!

One winter I tapped a maple tree for sap to make maple syrup with but I got less than half a cup of sap. I was disappointed! But, it made enough maple candy for each of us to have a taste and it was GOOOD!

 

[MindyT]

Your trees sound wonderful! How did you learn how to tap your own maple trees?
I always have a ton of new trees growing in our yard because of the huge oak tree in the next yard. They are sometimes found in the weirdest places too!

 

[Kansas Terri]

Your trees sound wonderful! How did you learn how to tap your own maple trees?
I always have a ton of new trees growing in our yard because of the huge oak tree in the next yard. They are sometimes found in the weirdest places too!

I found a mail order company in Canada that sold the taps, and they had instructions on their website. I just love the internet!

I am not sure what I did wrong: it might have been just a little too late in the year to tap the trees. And, the next year I was too busy to set up the taps and I have not done it since. I keep thinking that I will try again on some mythical future date when I actually have spare time at the same time that the weather for it is right.

I was surprised to learn that most trees can be tapped. Sugar Maples are the trees most often used because their sap is sweeter, but birch trees are sometimes used and Silver Maples can be used as well.

 

[Gina145]

I have a lot of young trees coming up in inconvenient places too - both in my garden and in my bonsai and pre-bonsai pots. I try to dig up as many as I can and put them into pots for a future as bonsai and sometimes I give away the excess for my bonsai club to put on their raffle table.

A couple of weeks ago I dug up a whole bunch of trees that had come up very closely packed together in a six inch gap between our neighbour's boundary wall and our driveway. It was pretty tricky in such limited space and there was one I was unable to remove because it was so close to the telephone pole that I was afraid I might damage the wires going into the ground. I'm really not sure what to do about that one as I can't kill it without killing the flowers growing around it.

Among our 'found' trees was a fig tree which grew in our garden for several years but never produced any fruit. Eventually my mother decided that if it wouldn't produce fruit it had to go, so I put it in a pot. Now, several years later, it has just produced its first two figs and I can't wait to see whether they taste good.

 

[ACSAPA]

It seems like such a waste to kill hundreds of little trees. Maybe you could give some of them away on Craigslist. I know they're a nuisance for you but there's something sad about a foot tall walnut tree being mowed down multiple times. That thing wants to live.

 

[evelynmcgregor]

I get a lot of baby silver maples in my yard every year. Some I manage to find homes for by potting them up and putting them on CraigsList. Others just have to be mowed down because there is such an abundance of them. I always hate mowing down a tree, but I want sun in my yard! Another tree I get volunteers of are pecan trees. The squirels bury the nuts and come spring the pop up all over. I have a lot of luck passing them on using Craigslist also.