Last year, my husband and I lost a couple of backyard trees and a piece of patio furniture during a wicked Oklahoma storm where everything blew to Kansas.
By Carrie Crain (housewife extraordinaire)
On a whim, we decided to plant three 18-foot Autumn Blaze Maple Trees ourselves.
- Don't guess on the size of hole. Chances are, you'll be wrong, like we were. Hubby and I were one foot off, and the hole wasn't wide enough. The worst part was my husband had taken the rental power tool thingie back to Home Depot, which makes digging holes go a lot quicker. So, when Lowes delivered our ginormous maple trees, we were scrambling for anything remotely resembling a shovel.
- Secure the tree to something other than your spouse who took the power tool thingie back to Home Depot, preferably to one of those metal posts with a rope. And, don't think for a minute that craft scissors is going to cut off those heavy-duty black plastic buckets the tree comes in. WRONG! You're gonna have to open up your pocket book and invest in an electric saw to cut those monsters off.
- See all that dirt on the black plastic? (refer to photo above; bottom row) Guess what? You gotta get a wheelbarrow and haul that off. Don’t fret. Pushing a wheelbarrow full of dirt builds character and muscle. Also, you can have the satisfaction of knowing you planted three 18-foot maple trees yourself.
- If you have a north wind suddenly come in and blow your tree over before it's in the hole, no worries. Unless of course, your seven-pound Jack Russell Terrier was on the grass playing with her tennis ball underneath the tree. Be concerned.
- See that white tube sticking out? (Refer to photo above; bottom row right) We had to cut those. These are important. They serve two purposes. First, they help keep the tree upright and straight in the hole. Second, you can dump nutrients down there to help your newly planted tree grow.
Listen folks, this isn’t an easy task. If you think you can have three trees of this magnitude planted in an hour and run off to catch the two-for-one at Denny's, you're sadly mistaken. So, grab yourself some of those huge Gatorade deals and a six-pack of Bud Light (if you’re of drinking age) and relax! You’ll be outside all day.
CARRIE CRAIN is a housewife extraordinaire who has bipolar. She is a soon-to-be-published author of a zany, adventurous children’s novella.
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