Fun with Stumpgrinder - Got a Stump to Grind?
First the mighty oak was felled. And then there was nothing but a stump. And the stump was right in the middle of the yard. Right where we want to plant grass.
So today started with a call to a hardware store in a nearby town where we already know from previous experience there is a stumpgrinder to rent. Sure enough it was available. They changed out the blades on it, and my husband borrowed a stepvan from my dad's water softening business, and went to get the big beast, the mighty stump grinder.
It's bigger than a lawnmower or a snowblower, but operates sort of like one. It's just a heck of a lot longer in the front. And it's a good thing it is so long, because that way the operator doesn't have to be so close to the wood chips and sawdust that go flying as the machine operates.
Here is the stump grinder in action, having nibbled away about 2/3 of the stump:
It only took about 15-20 minutes for that huge oak stump. With another 30 minutes or so, my husband also had three other smaller stumps ground down below lawn level.
As you might notice in the above photo, there used to be a ring of crocuses (or part of a ring anyway) around the old oak tree. As they were buried with sawdust, I realized they would have to be moved to a new home if they had a chance of survival. So even though you aren't really supposed to move bulbs like crocuses in the spring (or so I understand), sometimes you don't have a choice. Here they are in their new home, around the crabapple tree beside the deck:
We'll see if they make it!
That was only the beginning of our fun, as we went on to try to level the ground where the tree used to be, as it had been in something of a burm of a flower bed. And what was under that bed but... what else... landscape fabric. I could get on my stump and give a speech against the evils of landscape fabric again, but I no longer have a stump to stand on.
