I'm really rather new to gardening. When I am learning something new, I obsessively learn as much as I can about it. So, I often know quite a bit about some things, and absolutely nothing about others. Until recently I knew absolutely nothing about gardening around trees and roots. I figured that the trees have been around a long time, so what harm could little ol' me do? Well...first, it had twin trunks and within a month of buying the house one whole side split off, right about the time winter weather would have begun. You can see in the photos that the remaining tree leans to one side, in memory of its twin. Second, in my efforts to kill grass to get a new bed ready, I smothered the area surrounding the whole tree, right up to the trunk, in TONS of leaves, then cardboard, then 6-8" of mulch. Most of that stayed for over a year. On the good side, no grass survived, and the decomposed leaves helped the soi. But, yes, I actually let the deep leaves and mulch lay right up against the trunk. Trees are indestructible, right? Third, while planting some things I'm sure I've damaged roots, but I haven't planted too much so the damage is minimal.

I've been trying to remove mulch to let roots breathe. For all I know the trees days may have been numbered when half of it feel away, leaving an open wound just before winter. Pictures have me worried. Thoughts? Let's just say now I know much more about trees than I used, too...