What's the best way to give my garden sunlight?

Glanecia

I've been lucky enough to make my home on the land I grew up on. I love the douglas tree forest, the fruit trees, nut trees, and my father's garden. I worked very hard to make the garden what it used to be when I was a child, but it's not doing very well at all. (Well, the herbs and berries are THRIVING big time, but the vegetables are so wimpy.) My father told me before he passed away, that if I wanted the garden to have a lot of produce, then I'd have to be willing to log the douglas firs that surround it. Those trees used to be much smaller when I was a kid, and now they're so tall, very little sunlight enters the garden. (Living in Western WA, we have very little sunlight to begin with.) We used to have so many peas, beans, corn, etc ... I want it to be like that again.

Recently, I got another idea from my mother in law's husband. He said don't log the trees, just prune the branches.

I really like this idea, because I love the forest even more than I love the garden.

... but will pruning be enough? These are REALLY tall douglas firs ... can a person even hire someone to prune douglas firs? I'd do it myself, but these trees are sky-scrapers.

Should I log or prune?

rainbowgardener · Mod Joined: 15 Feb 2009 Posts: 6147 Location: Ohio, USA

You could hire someone with a bucket crane to come prune the trees, but it would be REALLY expensive. Much less expensive to log them. You might be able to take down like every other one and that would be enough to let enough sun in for your garden.

How lucky for you to inherit such a beautiful property! Smile

Kisal · Mod Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: Oregon

Although they can be pruned when young, I'm not sure pruning is really feasible for mature Doug firs. You can't top them, without ruining the appearance and inviting rot. Removal of branches larger than 1" in diameter can be problematic, allowing disease to set in easily. There can also be problems with the bark, due to insufficient production of resin. Wound management is necessary, and is more complicated than for deciduous trees or evergreens such as pines and spruce.

You can't just climb a mature Doug fir, either, because the limbs are extremely brittle. They tend to break off if you put your weight on them. You would need appropriate safety gear, such as loggers use. If your stand of Doug firs is typical, you would have to hire a professional to climb up and prune them. Otherwise, you would have to log some of them off anyway to get any kind of vehicle in among the trees.

In the long run, you might be better off just to log a few of them. If you like, you could leave some of them as nurse trees after they're down. JMO.
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"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" - Douglas Adams

hendi_alex · Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 11:45 pm Post subject:

I don't think that this is just a matter of sunlight. I had a group of pines adjacent to my garden, and you would not believe the criss cross of roots that competed with the garden. The soil looks much better since that stand of trees has been logged. I think that in general trees suck the life out a garden spot, and the garden spot should have at least a fifty to 100 foot buffer from large trees. I have not been willing to cut down any of our oak trees. My adjustment has been to garden from a series of raised beds that are not in contact with the ground. Selective cutting and pruning of trees combined with raised bed gardening could give you excellent results and should have a minimal impact on the fir trees.
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Eclectic gardening style, drawing from 40 years of interest and experience. Mostly plant in raised beds and containers primarily using intensive gardening techniques.
Alex

tomf · Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:59 am Post subject:

It may not be enough just to prune them. I went to some timber lot owners classes and one thing I was told was that pruning your trees makes for better wood. Any way they said you can prune a DF up to 2/3's so just leave the top 1/3 on the tree. I just prune the lowwer branches to can to cut down on fire danger as I like the look of a full tree. You can get a number of tree pruners to climb and do your trees but it will cost you a bit so try and find some one who will give you a good deal if you do.