Tree in front of the house

The weather is still nice in sunny Southern CA, so I'd rather be working outside than in - besides, I have a TON of grading to do and I need a physically satisfying job to take my mind of it all!  So I decided to start tackling the tree in front of the house by the street.  With our plumbing woes of a couple of weeks ago that revealed that we've got a massive amount of roots in the old pipes, the plumber said that some of the main culprits are the ivy on the ground and growing through the tree.  Plus, that poor sad tree is covered in ivy.

This is how it looked when we closed on the house.  The ivy in the planting strip will have to be dug out, but for now, I'm going to start liberating the tree.

Today, I cut a strip around the entire tree of ivy vines and branches.  I had to saw a bunch of them off.  Luckily, this is a type of eucalyptus tree that sheds bark, so once I cut through the vines, it was relatively easy enough to pull them off the tree.  I am hoping that cutting a ring around the tree will help the ivy above start to die --- but I don't hold a lot of hope in this theory -

I also have to cut and clear years and years worth of vines, grass, droppings, eucalyptus pods and McDonald's toys from the base of the tree.  Oh, and dog poop.  One of the downsides of having a messy yard is that people apparently don't think they have to clean up after their dogs when they poo by the tree -- and really, who'd blame them?  Oh yea - ME.










So now it looks like a lollipop with a big green top:

Here's the neighbor's tree.  Yep, this is how I want it to look.  But it's gonna take some time.  And loads and loads of trash. 

baby steps!