First You Dig a Hole

That is the first obvious step if you want to plant a tree. Here however, you first have to remove the meadow grass sod. Then you can begin to dig. Some places you can dig a hole easily. Here we have a few stones that need to be removed. The dirt in the bottom two thirds of the hole is a nasty yellow subsoil and it gets removed as well. Cobbles and goonies accompany the yellow subsoil. It took Ed some time, but here we have a beautiful planting hole. Fine black sand identifies the bottom of the hole.




The tractor cart is full of soil and cobbles from the hole. This load will be carted to a place where we want some fill.




But wait! There are a few more some what flat stones to be placed somewhere. They will be part of the next wall wherever that will be.




And just a few more including the goonie that Ed had to split into five pieces to safely remove it from the hole. They will need a wall home as well.




Next Ed mixes up enough of his nice soil mix to fill our beautiful hole. Now the tree can be planted and watered. The cage is added to keep the browsing deer at a distance. We hope our Magnolia will be happy here. A north slope combined with a wind shield formed by the pine trees may create the zone 5 conditions necessary for this tree's survival.




This morning the tree received a rather chilly reception being treated to a fairly hard April frost. This is Upstate New York. That's how it is!