We woke up yesterday morning to the sound of a Bobcat in our yard. No, not the wild critter. It was a bobcat used for doing heavy-duty work. The tree removal company that was supposed to be here on Thursday showed up on Friday instead, and by the time I got dressed and walked outside he already had our tree down. So we went from this (top) to this (bottom).
The fellow operating the bobcat said he was surprised at how easy it was because he didn’t expect the tree to go that quickly. He was actually using the teeth on the Bobcat to dig up the roots of the Palmettos that had grown all around it, and as he was getting them out he barely bumped the tree and it started to lean over. So he gave it a little push and it was gone!
Then all that was left was to load everything on the trailer and take it away.
With that ugly, mostly dead tree gone, we want to plant some citrus trees. So we went to Lindley’s Nursery and Garden Center yesterday afternoon and purchased a lemon tree, a tangelo tree, and a key lime tree. I wasn’t sure how much work was involved in replanting them, but when the nursery said that for less than $60 they would come out, dig the holes, plant all three trees, and fertilize them, I jumped on it. I’d rather have them do the work and get it right than for me to mess it up. Well, to be honest, I’d rather have them do the work so I don’t have to do it.
Back at home, we spent a couple of hours clearing up the area where the tree had been taken out, cutting out roots and such. The nursery said we need to let that area rest for at least two weeks before we try to plant something there, and said to water it quite a bit in the next few days to help the dirt pack down and remove any air pockets. I’ll have to bring in some more topsoil, too.
With that out of the way, we cleaned up some of the scraggly bushes growing in the little flower garden at the front of our house. It looks much nicer now, and Terry wants to plant some herbs there.
I was tuckered out by then, but Terry is like the Energizer Bunny and she never stops going. She trimmed off a bunch of dead leaves on our banana trees and they look a lot better now, too.
She also picked some of the small bananas off the trees. This is the first time we have harvested any of them because they always seem to go bad before we do. Several people have said that they won’t ripen on the tree and to pick them and let them ripen inside. Okay, we’ll see what happens.
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Thought For The Day – This virus has done what no woman has been able to do; cancel all sports, shut down all bars, and keep men at home!
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Little did you know that you were actually removing a Safety Hazard. Someone could have been seriously injured if that tree had fallen on them.
It might be wise to wait before putting the Top Soil. When the Nursery puts in the new Trees it will get mixed to the bottom of the hole or they will haul off the excess dirt. A little patience will be to your benefit.
Interested to see how the Bananas turn out.
Be Safe and Enjoy!
It’s about time.
We lived in Hawaii a couple years. We had banana trees in our little patio yard. We were told to pick them green (cannot remember what other things we were watching for), hang them technically upside down in a closet storage unit outside, cover it with an old Tshirt of my hubby’s and keep it wet down until they ripened up some. Seems we had them in that dark cupboard for maybe a week or so. We did all that and they tasted wonderful. Then a few days after we picked, to our horror, the banana trees dropped over…clear to the ground. We were told not to worry…just haul off the trees to trash. Sure enough, and in the place of the 2 banana trees we had there, 7 more came up…we moved then so the next renters must have had a GOB of bananas. We got something like 70 bananas from the 2 trees…most we had to give away as we had a small fridge/freezer. Have fun…looks like your bananas were much smaller than the ones we had so maybe care of them is different.