In the Garden | A New Gardening Tool...

... a Chainsaw!  Strange as it may seem, this chainsaw is actually going to help my garden.  Here's how:

Our house is situated in an older neighborhood with lots of mature trees, particularly oak and maple.  While this is great for keeping cool in the summer, it is not so great for growing vegetables.  In our yard alone we had about 22 trees when we first moved in!  Now just think of all the leaves that means we have to rake every fall!

I love our mature trees, but we simply have too many trees and not enough open yard space.  Slowly we have been regaining some space and removing some trees.  We've removed a dead birch from the front yard, a smaller oak tree from the backyard, and three sassafras trees where the kids' playset now sits.  That still left 17 trees and no really good sunny place to put a garden.

My garden sits in the back of this picture and is shaded by this row of trees for much of the afternoon.  On top of that, the retaining wall that is next to the trees is falling apart and becoming a hazard.  The trees and the wall must go!

So, this past weekend my husband and I loaded up the kids and took them out to buy a chainsaw.  The very next day my husband had the chainsaw fired up and dropped the two smallest trees.  Next up, four larger trees - pictures to come.  I'm envisioning a great before and after shot.

I'll leave you with a picture of my garden that is growing in spite of all the shade it gets.  The beans are even starting to grow tiny beans and the cucumbers are climbing the trellis.  So far the tomatoes are not looking as good, so time will tell if we get any tomatoes.