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.