Secret #2 ...if Trees could speak.

Money doesn't always buy intelligent gardeners. In the hustle and bustle of the city homeowners rarely have enough time to cook their own dinner much less take care of the gardening. Unfortunately, they instead hire the services of an MBG gardener. That's a Mow, Blow, and Go gardener. Though incredibly helpful and usually inexpensive the gardener is not always nice to your trees. I don't think that your gardener wants to intentionally hurt your trees, but I also don't think they have a clue what your trees secret needs are. Which leads me to my personal pet peeve. Every time your gardener comes over with his weed wacker the trees are screaming out in pain but no one can hear them. Either that or trees are incredibly good at putting up a front of not being in pain when the weed wacker smacks against their trunks week after week. Slowly over time the weed wacker works its way through the bark and then through the most delicate and sensitive part of the the tree, its cambium layer. Thin barked trees are most suceptible to this kind of damage but so are young and newly planted trees. You know, the 24 inch box beauty that you just had planted for $400.00 in the center of your yard. That's right, your gardener is going to kill it. Its a slow and painful death but what can you do?

Most gardeners in my area can barely speak English so if you are not fluent in Spanish, they won't understand what you tell them. In fact, even if they might understand you, they will likely deny any wrong doing and or be too obstinate to admit they made a mistake. Last week in fact, I, speaking in perfectly clear and polite Spanish, explained to one of my client's gardeners what he was doing wrong and he stubbornly refused to believe that the damages were caused by his weed wacker. After speaking with him he quickly finished his work, packed his things, and drove away, leaving his weed wacker behind. I could only laugh to myself as he pulled up 10 minutes later, looking for his evil weapon of destruction. Here are a few tips to protect your trees.
1) Clear a circle of grass around the trunk and replace it with mulch and wood chips. The diameter of the circle is not important as long as the weeds that the gardener is too lazy to pull out by hand are not growing up next to the trunk. But I should note here that the bigger the circle of chips the happier the tree will be. *see why trees hate grass coming soon.
2) Purchase plastic guards for smaller trees from a nursery or garden store. There are several out there but the ones that can interlock with one another are best for larger size tree trunks. These are a good option however they are unsightly.
3) Keep the area around the root crown dry to slow the growth of weeds. Turn sprinklers away or put a decorative rock or landscape decoration in front of the sprinkler head so it does not hit the trunk of the tree.
4) Do Not Use herbicides. Over time they will kill the tree especially one that is already under stress.
5) To protect against the gardener's mower you can place a rock on either side of the tree.
6) Always try to ask politely for the gardener to please remove the weeds by hand next to the tree trunks.

I hope these 6 tips will help save your trees from unnecessary damages and possible infection.