The above picture tells you all you need to know about my agenda today ... We are going to find a spot for and then plant 30 fruit/flowering trees. This means I need to mow down the area where the trees are going to go and then somehow till up a circle around each tree so the grasses don't compete with the young trees. The plus side is that it is a beautiful sunny day (although a bit windy) and that I'll have the help of my family. In fact if I was going to be completely accurate I would say that my wife would have my help!
My wife has been doing a bit of research into laying out the fruit trees (you can read about it on her blog), but I think we are going to be doing a little more before they go in the ground. Just want to make sure we have everything just right for these little trees.
Wish us luck ... and I'll post some pictures of the new trees when we have them in the ground.
3 comments:
"...then somehow till up a circle around each tree so the grasses don't compete with the young trees..."
I once saw a kraft paper mulching product for sale in a forestry supply catalog that was used during reforestation to create a temporary mulch around seedlings.
Since I didn't want to buy enough to plant 1000 trees, I just took corrugated cardboard, cut it into 12-18" squares on the table saw, cut a small hole in the center, placed it over the tree when planting, and then watered it until the cardboard was soggy (so it laid flat). It usually lasted long enough for the tree to get established and another piece could always be added by cutting a slit in the square so that it could go around the tree.
The cardboard kept the area immediately around the tree relatively weed and grass free and seemed to help hold the moisture level higher.
I hope your day of planting trees went well. I dug holes for mine with a shovel and just put the sod back in upside down. I'll follow up with straw for mulch soon. That leaves quite a bit of space around the trees where no grass will be. I planted mine 2 or 3 weeks ago and they're doing great.
Keep us posted, will you?
Living in the almost treeless region, I've always valued any kind of tree. They're tough to get to grow.
One I have had a lot of luck with is the Peking Cherry. It's is a cherry tree, but a short one, so more of a bush really. The kids and I love the cherries, but they're really tiny so they're a bit of a pain to use. We use them for pies anyway.
FWIW, the deer haven't mowed them down, even though they get in them. And the cat thinks they make great camouflage.
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