Bye bye Elder tree

We have an old Elder tree in the garden that's been ill for some time now. Lots of dead branches fall when the wind gets up and it's encrusted with Moss and Lichens. In the autumn it drops its berries and because it's near the house causes a real mess, especially when the dogs bring the berry juice in on their feet. The other problem is that it overhangs the greenhouse and we've had a few near misses with the falling branches in the last year.

So with the new year approaching and an increasing itch to use my new shedder we decided to give the old tree a bit of a trim. It's taken us 2 full days (and not to mention personal risk) but we've cut it right back so that there are no longer any side branches, just the shoot producing trunk. Hopefully that will reinvigorate some new growth next year. Whatever happens I don't have to worry about getting bonked on the head by any falling branches anymore. It's all been cut into logs for the fire or put through the shredder and onto the compost heap (I hope you can put Lichens on the heap) so all the bits we cut off will go to good use.

We've now set our sights on trimming back the giant apple tree in the middle of the garden to let some light through to the grass below. It's really struggling and needs some attention. Again it has a lot of dead branches and is currently only producing apples high up in the tree with no action happening nearer the bottom. After all the sawing of the last two days I can hardly move my arm so that's one for another weekend I think.

Oh and I shredded the Christmas tree too...