Kurtis Gardner

I got this error message when I tried to post four pictures, then only one 1.2 MB picture.

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The webpage at https://permies.com/forums/jforum might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.

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I've been thinking I'd put them in the relocation program because I don't want to kill them. By "relocation program" I mean try to transplant them somewhere else (out in the boonies) to (hopefully) live.

I have no idea what kind of tree they are. There is a ~50-foot tall one in the rear neighbor's yard and several 5-foot tall ones in my backyard. I wonder if it's native to the area.

Another option would be to pull them out and let them decay into the soil.

Any thoughts?

Should I post pictures here and/or somewhere else to get the tree identified?

Here's the warning about herbicides in hay, straw, and manure:

https://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/danger-of-straw-bale-gardening-no-one-is-mentioning/

Thanks for all of the replies, especially the longer ones.

I have a Charles Dowding book (see next paragraph) and I'm waiting on a Ruth Stout book.

I don't want to put in unknowns which might have synthetic chemicals. Cardboard: I'm not going to use cardboard, newspaper, or other manufactured stuff. I watched the first five or so minutes of this video (https://youtu.be/X7iFHnsh6Y4). Hay/straw/manure: I'm leaning heavily against using it, too. Someone somewhere warned that their garden was damaged by synthetic chemicals after a few years of using materials that were said to have not been sprayed.

I'll consider and am leaning toward wood chips from a tree service. And leaves. Those should be relatively free of synthetic chemicals, no?

What about using the lawn? In the two years I've been here I haven't watered it, it grows in spring and loses its green in the summer heat (it seems like that heat has started early). The lawn is tall and is probably various grasses and weeds. There are some nice small flowers in there. Since I'm still deciding and starting small, I'm going to experiment.

Charles Dowding's book is the one I borrowed, and I just watched "Start out no dig with cardboard and compost." Thank you.

I believe one idea of no-till is to NOT disrupt the current soil (as much as possible) because it's already a complex organism. Labor isn't my main concern.

I'll look into the sod brick idea, especially to replace the rickety fence.

I've wanted to build a straw bale house; now I plan to build a straw bale drum shed.

Potatoes are a great idea that can start from scraps.

I want to minimize buying plastics so if I buy materials (mulch and such) I'll try to get it in bulk. I'm vegan so I'm iffy on getting animal manure.

I'll get some library books for reference.

How do I start when there is a lawn?

I'm in the California Central Valley. I have a residential house and I want to ease into gardening by starting with one plant.

I used to like the idea of 'square foot gardening,' and I still might use some of those principles. I have seen that there's straw bale gardening. I heard about no till gardening on the radio; I don't remember reading a book on it. So, overall, I want to try no till gardening.

There's a spot in the backyard where the grass has died back because a car was there. I could start with a 4' by 4' section, if that's the better approach (maybe I need to start with a cover crop?).

Starting from kitchen scraps, indoor or outdoor, would be fun.

A plant that's easy for a beginner would be good.