Gas pipeline

Well, when I woke up this morning, they were telling me that I must not put a garden on the cleared-out area that I had described, up in the woods. At first I thought I would rebel against that. But then they explained it was the gas pipeline. I have seen the sign that says 'gas pipeline - call before digging.' I forgot all about that sign. It had been so long since I had actually walked around the cleared area in the woods that I didn't remember that. So I went up and checked on it, and yes, there ARE signs warning of the gas pipeline.

However, there are several areas in the woods nearby that aren't cleared out. They're growing small trees alternating with bushes. They're off the sides of the main cleared strip. By my understanding, the ONLY place that has the gas pipeline is the grassy, cleared, straight-line area without any trees at all. In the slightly wooded areas to the sides, there isn't any pipeline.

I also noticed a big fallen tree branch lying on the power line. That's going to be a problem when the wind blows.

I need an area that already doesn't have many trees, but it can have a FEW small trees. It just has to get enough sunlight most of the day. I can plant the garden in between the few small trees that are in the nearby areas, away from the cleared off strip of grass. The trees are those sumac-like, walnut-like trees, and I don't know my tree species very well, so I can't say what they are, but they're short, like ten to fifteen feet high. Those trees couldn't be growing on top of any gas pipeline.

Uh-oh, I just thought of something. A guy told me just recently that walnut trees poison the surrounding soil so that a lot of plants can't grow. I'll have to verify whether any of them are really walnuts.

Now I feel anxious and uncertain. Reluctantly I might say that I would have to call the gas pipeline people, but then, I'd also have to confess that I want to dig a garden on land that I don't own, and they might frown upon that, and the slightest discouragement or disapproval might stop me from doing it. The whole hillside cannot possibly be a gas pipeline, especially amongst the trees. Maybe I could just call them and ask general questions about the pipeline without telling them what I want to do?