(The tree seems to have spared the house, which was built in 1957, its foundation still intact.)

I'm making a raised bed 7' high out of the 25' square and will fill it with � HD "topsoil" (dirt) and � HD humus/manure. It will drain.

The problem is that raising the bed is taking 5x longer than I thought it would, and those pips have been sitting in the service sink in the basement for a week. I've kept them perfectly evenly moist � never soggy or saturated. The roots feel like they've been starched and smell like clean earth. No rot or mold at all. BUT...some of the tips (of the pips?) are kind of reddish brown, and some are green. I think they were paler when they arrived.

So what's with that color? Are the pips dying? Have they passed the point of no return? Should I forget about them and get fresh ones? Or are they okay? And what do you think of my soil formula?

I'm going to plant them tomorrow or the next day, at the latest.

My concern is your building a raised bed around your silver maple. The roots of the silver maple will eventually come up to the surface of the raised bed. I am not sure you want that so close to your house. BTW, what is the dimension of your raised bed? I don't think you meant to build a 7 foot high bed as you said, though, did you?

What's wrong with a 7' raised bed? Just kidding. That was a typo. It's a 7-INCH raised bed.

I sure didn't plant that dumb maple. It's about 3x taller than my house, which I bought only two years ago.

The area is about 25' square. The roots of the tree came up through the soil long ago. The point where the trunk comes out of the ground is about a foot higher than the edge of the area. I don't know why the roots haven't pierced the wall of the basement, but they haven't. I guess they would have already, if they were going to.

I don't expect the lotv to get anywhere near it �" although it's welcome to try! I'm just hoping they'll grow in from the (raised) edge five or six feet. I guess what I'm doing is making a raised edge as opposed to a raised bed.

As of about 2 hours ago, when I last checked, the pips seem fine. My limited gardening experience suggests that, when in doubt, but have a particle of a reason for optimism, go for it.

I'm almost done raising the bed (edge)! I will send a pic later.

Bernard

dig a small trench.. and heal the pips into mother earth ... they will be there.. waiting for you when you are done.. even if its in spring ...

a sink is not a long term option ..

in the alternative.. grab the whole lot.. put them all in one pot.. and fill in with soil ...

try to mimic mother earth.. when you need to do things ... and she aint got no sinks ...

now.. can we talk about your real problem??? .. an extremely weak... soft wooded tree... too close to your house???? .. how big is this monstrosity .. i am thinking 50 to 60 feet if its already killed everything under it ....

ken

They are one of those sleep, creep, leap groundcovers. Once they start leaping, they'll go wherever they want to, including up around the tree. Mine are coming up in the cracks beteen my bluestone pavers. Not even the ivy did that. I would plant them in from the edge and let them grow toward it. One of my earliest gardening memories (cue the sentimental music) was helping my Mom dig up lotv that had grown outside of her round garden bed edged with cobblestones. That's when I learned that plants could 'escape', like jailbreakers.

Be sure to harvest some when you have the maple tree cut down (which you *will* want to do), because the tree cutters will tred all over them.

Too late now. It's dark, and I'm exhausted. Next time.

Thanks also for understanding how I feel about that silver maple. I wouldn't have thought it possible to detest a plant, and I've never understood how “treehugger” can be a pejorative, but I do now. That tree is at least 3x as tall as my house. Shortly after moving here, I checked into removing it. Cost: $1500- 2000. Someday. When I had my house, a fixer-upper, fixed up, I had the tree pruned mercilessly, so at least it's no longer an active threat.

My real hope is that the tree and the lotv will duke it out to a grim, bloody -- but sweet-smelling -- finish. When the end draws nigh, I will sell tickets.

I finally finished making the sides of my raised bed. Tomorrow morning I will connect the corners, add the soil, and plant. In addition to the 50 pips I already have, 80 more will be delivered tomorrow. It was supposed to be 40, but there was an Ebay misunderstanding. One way or another, I will have lotv.

Bernard-in-Ohio

then have it taken down ASAP

Thanks for writing to me.

Maybe I shouldn't have said "mercilessly."

After the main trunk, the tree divides into three equally giant limbs. One of those was threatening the house -- would have caused great destruction if...

On the advice of my contractor's arborist in August 2013, that mighty limb was removed right at the trunk. Another tree service had said, "Oh, no, you can't do that. The other two limbs will split apart. The tree will die."

The second arborist said, “Let me get my chainsaw.”

The limb was removed, and the tree woke up in the spring fresh as a daisy. The wound was sealed and hasn't gone moldy or oozy or anything. For the rest, the tips of a few branches here and there were trimmed.

My house is safe(r), but the tree is still a monstrosity. Completely out of scale with my house. Depending on my mood, removing it bounces between my to-do list and my bucket list.

Cheers!

Bernard