What is the easiest and cheapest way to fix this eye sore?

Install a border and landscape fabric, fill with mulch.

I had the same situation in my small front yard ! I got landscaping rock and made a large ring around the tree. Then I put in more top soil to cover the tree doors . For the first few years i planted flowers around the tree , it looked beautiful !!! Now because of hand issues and I am having a hard time wedding , I am planning on putting down small brown landscaping rock in the area around the tree and just putting a few planters with flowers around the tree , will still look nice but will be easier to maintain . Good luck !

Hi Erin. You could add a mulch bed around the tree to dress it up easily and inexpensively.

The roots of the tree could use about 6" of good organic mulch and soil. Not much more as the exposed roots need to breathe.

Pachysandra will grow anywhere. But, be sure when you plant it, you don't want to take it out as it will spread and fill in the tree base pretty fast. Water it often the first year and after that you shoud be okay. Don't put in ivy or vinca as these vines will climb the tree and ivy will kill the tree.

Easy and cheap do not always go hand in hand, but here is a relatively inexpensive solution. Measure the circumference around the tree base that you want to enclose using a water hose. When you decide on the size and shape, measure the length so you know how much edging you'll need. The easiest edging to use is the metal edging that comes in 8 foot lengths. (so if you have a measurement that is divisible by 8, so much the better!) Tap that in the ground around the tree and fill in the remaining space around the edge with some regular planting soil. It will improve the look if you get some shade loving ground cover and plant that. If you get a vine type ground cover, it will spread and cover the 'hump' nicely. Then cover the exposed soil with a layer of cypress mulch. Cypress might be more expensive than pine, but it doesn't blow away or get washed away easily. That should be the simplest solution and easiest to maintain. And remember to have fun!

you should not bury the tree base in either dirt or mulch it will cause disease then bugs then rot or bugs disease then rot. no more than 4"s and not up against the bark of trunk...Placement, by hand, of no more than four inches of soil over the roots is another option. Spreading more than four inches of soil will inhibit the amount of oxygen getting to the root system and could cause its health to decline. The following year, another four inches can be added and grass seed may be sewn over the area if there is enough sunlight to support a lawn. Sod is another option after the first year of soil has been brought in, but its establishment over surface roots must be done by hand and can easily restrict water flow to the root system. It is important to resist planting the soil area with shrubs as the excavation of the soil to place the plants will most certainly damage the surface roots. Mulching the entire surface root area around the tree is the solution most people choose. It is generally cheaper and better for the tree. Again, approximately four inches of composted wood chips works best to help hold in soil moisture and return nutrients to the soil. Pine straw is acceptable to hide the roots, but won’t be a long term solution to the problem. Whichever option you choose, remember that a tree must be healthy from the start. Covering the roots of a structurally unsound tree to hide a problem can come back to haunt you if the tree fails because of your negligence. Should you have concerns about the health of your trees, contact a certified arborist for a full assessment. Tree roots like to live below ground. That is where the moisture and nutrients that sustain tree growth are found. Some species have root systems that are acclimated to wet soils. They are known as “bottomland species,” and their root systems are located closer to the surface of the ground. Also, as the impacts of rain, yard watering and foot traffic erode soil, roots may appear to be “coming right out of the ground.” Roots on the surface of the soil can cause all kinds of problems, but not necessarily for the tree. Given the chance, trees adapt to their environment over time, and trees can live with a significant portion of their absorbing roots close to the surface. This is particularly true in soils that contain heavy clay or in compacted soils, through which rainfall does not easily percolate. Over time, these roots can adapt, becoming quite large and creating real problems in the landscape, particularly where lawn maintenance or foot traffic occurs. Often times, the tripping hazard and lawnmower damage is enough to make landowners want to take extreme action. Fortunately, with a little patience and time, the extent of the problem can be diminished.

Make a fairy garden. Don't hide what you have embrace it. Walmart this year is selling fairy garden kits with house and accessories that are solar and reasonably priced. By a couple and place around your tree. Buy a small bag of stones or colored gems from a dollar store and create paths with them.

Put ring of bricks around tree, fill with soil, plant flowers.