Tale of the Lonesome Pine

I cut down an old Scotch pine in the corner of the estate yesterday.

This tree was on the property when we moved here fourteen years ago. I'd strung Christmas lights on it, and it looked great in the wintertime laden with snow. But it was one of those trees that had a normal main trunk and a second trunk growing out from the base. Eventually, I thought, the bastard trunk was going to crack and crash to the ground - probably just at the time Dabney was squatting innocently in its path or I was mowing the lawn. And the main trunk had become denuded at the top, and had quit growing. So it had two strikes against it.

It was great fun wielding the chain saw like a modern-day Paul Bunyan. I now have a dozen stout logs about fireplace-sized, and a pile of branches with needles. I think I'll use some of the logs to decorate the fireplace in the living room. You're not supposed to use pine logs in a fireplace because of the sap, as I recall, but they will look sharp. A cousin in Tulsa has white Christmas lights in their fireplace year 'round, and I thought that looked neat - almost like a night light - so I may replicate that.

I don't know how old this tree was. It was probably planted when the house was built. It struck me as interesting that a tree like that can take twenty years or so to grow, and can be cut down in a matter of an hour. No wonder so many forests in the eastern half of the United States were wiped out as pioneers moved west. Log cabins, firewood, furniture, boats down the Ohio and the Mississippi - the building stuff of a nation. When you fly over in an airplane, you get a sense of the impact man has had on the landscape.

So what will I do in place of the old lonesome pine? I picked up a redbud a couple of weekends ago. I'll plant it near the house, and probably move my forlorn garden east, away from my pecan trees, so it will get more sunshine. I didn't harvest much this year - might have been because of the record heat, but it might have been because of too much shade, too. Doesn't hurt to shuffle things around a little bit.

Now about that pecan tree in the corner of the yard, overhanging the neighbor's fence ... I wonder if it's time to take it out. Hmmm.....

My Garden

I've added several bags of garden soil - not topsoil, but "garden soil" - to my raised beds. I've planted six tomatoes, a red and a yellow bell pepper, and Straight 9 cucumbers. I've also started rows of carrots, planting a new row each week so their harvest will be staggered. Finally, I've added a patch of Kentucky green beans. Hopefully everything will do better than last year. I've committed to watering everything every morning. Since I bought two redwoods to be bonsaied, and they require daily watering, it's a little easier to make the commitment to water the entire garden. And I think it will pay off. I haven't watered past gardens adequately, and there certainly has been no measurable rain in this part of Oklahoma in weeks, so the only way the garden will succeed will be through watering. The bags of "garden soil" I bought from Lowe's were a little more expensive, but should be well worth it. The soil is nice and loose, and promise to retain moisture better than topsoil. It feels good. Adding the bags has increased the depth of my beds considerably, almost up to the edge of the 2x12 side panels. That should give the roots more space in which to grow. The cucumber seeds have sprouted. I planted them in a straight row between tomato plants. I'll thin them out as they get bigger. My idea is for them to ramble around among the tomato plants, getting a little shade and sharing the raised bed. Seems like I read somewhere that was a good idea. Well, we'll just see about that! More updates as warranted. Meanwhile, the peonies are looking very healthy over by the patio, and the lilies of the valley are surviving. Should be a nice place to sit and enjoy the evenings over the next several months.