A Tree Story: Let's Dig Some Holes, Yo

So yesterday you heard about how we bought some trees to plant in our backyard. Today I'm telling the next chapter in this story: the exciting and physically daunting task of digging the holes for said trees.

The tree hole is the most important part of tree planting, according to people who know things about trees and planting them. It has to be the right depth, because the root system of a tree flourishes best in the oxygen-rich soil in the first couple feet of the ground. It has to be the right width, because the transplanted tree will need to stretch its first roots through well-tilled earth. It has to be the right shape, because the tree can drown if it sits in too much water that doesn't drain through a poorly-constructed hole. Hellooooooo, high maintenance.

We started with the hole for the willow oak since it would need to be bigger - about 4 feet in diameter and close to 2 feet deep at its edges.

First, we marked off our circle with some old spray paint we had in the garage. There is probably some much more eco-friendly way to mark it out, so if you plant a tree you should do that and not what I just said. In fact, scratch that. Umm, we used a non-synthetic organic soy-based paint that actually naturally fertilizes the soil and washes away in the rain. We bought it at a free trade store. Yeah, that sounds better.

Then, we started digging. Gotta get off the top layer of sod w/ all the grass and set that aside, because you don't want to put that back in the hole later.

You can see from these pictures the sad, sad state of our backyard. All that green behind us? That belongs to our neighbor. But the dead grass with patches of weeds? That's all ours. But that's why we're doing this! To bring beauty and life to our yard! So on with the digging.


This is the part where I was still helping. I couldn't do much digging with the big shovel so it was my job to use some other assorted tools to help. We were supposed to keep the edges pretty straight so I used an edger and a weird long shovel to do that. I also used a rake-thingie to loosen up the dirt for Ben's digging. Evidence that I helped as shown with these dirty tools:


When the hole was too deep for me to be much more helpful, I let Ben keep digging but sat outside and read Harry Potter aloud to him for entertainment. He was a total machine and made amazing progress.

What a good husband I have! His finished work was so fabulous. The perfect specimen of a well-dug hole. The hole by which all other tree holes should be judged. It will be a loving and happy home for our oak tree, I'm quite sure. The next night he nearly finished the hole for the cherry tree, too. He set up his video light rig outside so he could work after dusk. Cue dramatically lit digging shot:

The trees will hopefully be delivered today, so tomorrow I hope to have some pictures of them and the process of getting them into the ground. The adventure continues, next time, on A TREE STORY.