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With all too many projects planned for this weekend (most with firm 
deadlines, such as my son's birthday party) what should show up this 
Thursday but my trees from Fedco.  An Ashmead's Kernal apple one 
seedling, and a paperbark maple.  (There's room for some ornamentals, 
and besides, if you don't want fruit, trees don't need full sun.)  So I 
got home from work early today, and it's pouring rain and 40 degrees 
out.  Brrr, but I figure it's actually good weather from the tree's 
perspective, so out I go.

I'm amazed by you people who throw away the sod.  When I dig a hole to 
plant, I need to remove about a third of the "soil" volume because it 
is full of large rocks.  Anyway, I mulched heavily last year in 
preparation for planting, so the sod looks pretty dead, and is easy to 
cut through.  It goes into the hole.  I'm still going to need to buy 
some sacks of dirt to fill up the hole, but I managed to find enough to 
put a pyramid around the roots, so they should keep until I can finish 
filling in the hole.  (Especially as the rain is supposed to keep 
falling.)  I've never planted a seedling apple rootstock before.  
Forget about "spreading out" the roots.  This thing looked like a 
carrot - the main issue was digging deep enough that it could stay 
straight, and have some loose soil (not rock) beneath it.  I did dig 
around where it would go, too - I assume eventually the roots will want 
to branch out.  and now I have a nice new supply of rocks.

Ginda Fisher
eastern MA, zone 6
cold, raining - April showers bring May flowers, and all that.
Everything has swollen buds.  The blueberries, currants, and lilacs are 
just waiting for the word "go".  The Crandall's are showing green tips. 
 The forsythia is about to sprout.  I'm all excited because some of my 
2000 and 2001 apple grafts (onto a crab) look like they might have 
fruiting buds.  The Cornus Mas has lots of buds showing yellow.  The 
strawberries and grass are greening up.  The garlic and other buds are 
about 4 inches tall, and the early peonies have justg peeped through 
the soil.  I'm expecting spring to come all at once this year.