I just moved into a new house in the midwest and am trying to get the yard under control. I know very little about taking care of trees and plants, I mostly just mow and trim. So I have some questions about the yard I hope you can help me with.
There is some type of apple tree in the back yard (small yellow apples), and it is very bushy around the bottom, it looks like there are 10 or so 'tree trunks'. There are also branches growing completely sideways all over, tyring to reach out for sunlight I assume. Should I be cutting all of these off? I'd like to have the area next to the tree clear of branches up to 6-7 foot or so, so you can walk all the way around it. There also seems to be some kind of bush growing right next to it, or maybe thats still part of the tree. Should I rip all this out? Pictures here:
Then there is the tree in the front yard. Its pretty small, maybe 10 feet, and doesn't look very good. Should I cut off some of the branches on the bottom, to encourage height? It doesn't look like its shaped right at all. Pic:
OK, then there are some things growing in the back yard that I have no idea what they are, and I don't know if I should get rid of them or if its something I might want. They are building a new 4 lane road 100 feet behind my lot, and I will want something between the house and the road eventually. this is in a corner of the back yard:
-Ryan