What To Do With Those Trees Around The Cottage

Did you buy an old cottage and your wondering what to do to create more space on the property because the older trees on the property are so overgrown that they take up all the lawn space and completely block the sun?

CUT THEM DOWN!

I know if you come from a large city that's the worst sin you can commit-cutting a tree down, but out in cottage country, in cottage country its something that happens all the time.

There are many reasons to cut trees down, don't think that you are being evil, eventually all trees on your property will have to be cut down, nothing lives forever, if they aren't cut down they will eventually fall down.

Here are some of the reasons to cut down tree's at the cottage;

• They encroach on the cottage. If trees have grown to close to the cottage they can cause problems, they can damage the siding, the roof and the eavetroughs with swinging or falling branches, needles or leaves and their roots can actually damage the foundation and the drainage system that is installed at the base of the foundation.
• The trees that are on or even near your septic system will eventually grow their root system into it, this will destroy the septic bed, this means that you will need a new septic system (which is expenisve) it also means that you could be dumping raw sewage into the soil which is not good for the environment at all.
• Depending on the type of trees that are around your cottage they might not be a native species, but they were planted by a previous owner because they looked nice. For example; in Ontario people like to plant blue spruce because it grows quick, it grows full and has that blue twinge to it. But because they are not native to Ontario they actually become diseased. They get fungal infections and these can cause the tree to lose the needles, this can spread to native species over time.
• The larger a tree gets the more it takes over an area, limiting other plants and trees from growing, cutting a larger tree down actually allows you to plant many different things to grow.
• As trees grow larger and spread out they end up in the way of driveways, walkways and other pathways, this becomes a problem as the tree ends up being cut back or have the branches broken. Eventually this causes the tree to be damaged and will cause the tree to eventually die.
• As trees grow larger they can start to interfere with the hydro wires and phone lines that run to the cottage, big wind storms or ice storms cause branches to come down and this can damage these lines.
• The older and taller a tree is (especially if your cottage is waterfront) the more they are susceptible to being damaged in big storms. When trees start falling down in big storms they can damage other cottages and yours, they can also damage a lot of trees around them.

Just because you cut some trees down at your cottage doesn't mean that you have to clear cut your lot, in fact you can have trees removed and then have new smaller younger ones planted in their place. You then get to watch a new young tree grow and you get the benefits of the space that it doesn't take up. When you plant native evergreens they don't take long to grow and as they grow they give wonderful privacy, where older taller trees usually have thinned on the bottom and don't give the privacy that you are looking for.

You can also plant native hardwoods, they will take a long time to grow but they are beautiful to look at and give nice shade without taking over a lot of room at ground level.

Bottom line. don't be afraid to CUT THOSE TREES!

Rob Abbott

Village Builder Inc.