My wife and I are building our house. We needed a retaining wall due to the drop in elevation from one side of the lot to the next. We wanted to save these trees so we did a tree well. The well ended up being about 4.5’ deep at the highest point. (The wall was originally supposed to go around the tree, so no drop) We have a son that is learning to walk and are worried about him falling in. Does anyone have any good ideas for covering this that would look half decent?
by Confident-Chicken400
15 Comments
I like to plant something that really fills them up and doesn’t need much soil. So day lilies, irises, even big hostas. That sort of thing.
As for Mr toddler doing his thing some stakes and deer/snow fence works great. It only got 1 summer or two.
I would still do for the trees whatever you are going to do to keep your toddler from falling off the rest of the retaining wall you say you’re building, just extend that down the tree area. We have a similarly sized water feature across tiers and put up T posts and wire fence to prevent access from the bottom
I’ll leave it to others to prognosticate on the trees themselves
might be able to “air layer” the trees to start new root growth higher up the trunk and fill in the well
Railing/fencing would be the simplest solution, I think.
If you burry the trunk it will more than likely kill the tree, also unfortunately that well looks way to small for that tree and may still harm it
Just tell him to put his hands over his eyes whenever he goes over there
Been there. Honestly, my solution would be to hack together some quick fence that is good enough for long enough. The thing about toddlers is that, as it turns out, they don’t stay toddlers forever and in retrospect I feel silly over-engineering some things around the yard. In a few years you’ll probably have a ladder going down that hole and it will be a cool spot to hide treasure and have alone time from parents.
Needs a railing. If you fill that in with dirt the trees will die. Might as well remove them entirely if you go that route.
Im not even gonna read your question. Uhhhh DIRT!
If you fill that in you kill the tree
Are we to assume you built the tree wall and prior to that the ground around the trees was level. If so you have likely killed the trees. You can’t bury roots like that.
If I were in your shoes, I would just leave it – odds are your toddler isn’t going to be playing outside alone, so when he’s out there you’ll be close by anyway. I know it’s extra work to keep a closer eye on him, but it’s not forever and it also teaches him how to behave around heights. I have four boys – each one of them has taken a tumble down our very steep wooden stairs (yes, we have gates, but we’re also human and forget to close it, or one of their brothers left it open, etc…) ONE time. I’m probably going to get downvoted for this, but when you have four boys you learn to shrug off a lot of mildly dangerous things and focus your energy on truly dangerous things, like cars in parking lots, or sharp knives, or something else that can seriously harm your kid
Career nurseryman here.
It’s going to die anyway.
100%
Just put it out of its misery and save yourself half a decade of watching it shit the bed.
Coils of Razor wire
Everyone’s saying the tree is gonna die if you bury it but actually that depends on the species of tree. Could try to identify the tree and research how they act with a buried stem because they might just grow roots higher up
I’d say just try burying it and see what happens in a few years. Cut it off if it isn’t working.