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A very spring activity
Apr. 3rd, 2010 04:32 pmKip and I have been talking for a while about trees. We both enjoy blossoming trees in the spring, and we both think the yard, especially the front yard, is unfortunately bare. There are dips in the ground where apparently there used to be bushes and trees that the previous owner(s) removed for some reason. We tried to fill a couple of the worst of those last summer with topsoil and reseed with grass, but we hadn't done anything else except that I tried to plant irises in the box around the front steps. The irises didn't do so well, several never sprouted and the remainder grew a couple of long green leaves and never flowered.
Today we took another stab at it. Yesterday evening when it was cool we went and bought a peach tree--a treeling, really, but we couldn't afford the big ones--and some sprouted and flowering dandelions and hyacinths, and a couple of sprouted and budding but not flowering yet tulips. We got some potting soil and six long brick-related things. We laid them out on the front lawn and coiled a soaker hose around them and soaked tree, flowers and ground all night.
Then this morning before it got hot we went out and dug a big hole--big enough to take the tree and the flowers around its trunk and the long brick things in a hexagonal wall. We mixed the reddish clay soil with the potting soil and put it around the tree's root ball and eased all the flowers out of their little pots and planted them in the mix. We tamped dirt clods and loose soil around the wall to hold it in place. Then we took the soaker hose and soaked everything again.
I hope it works.
The tree is standing up, short but brave with one single pink blossom and a sprinkling of green leaves. The flowers are daffodilling and hyacinthing and thinking about tuliping maybe in a week or two. The lawn around them is suffering somewhat under the loose dirt we couldn't scrape up--I think it will pull through but it is looking muddy and bedraggled. The extra clay went into some of the dips and holes in the lawn.
And two pairs of very muddy boots are drying by the back door.
Today we took another stab at it. Yesterday evening when it was cool we went and bought a peach tree--a treeling, really, but we couldn't afford the big ones--and some sprouted and flowering dandelions and hyacinths, and a couple of sprouted and budding but not flowering yet tulips. We got some potting soil and six long brick-related things. We laid them out on the front lawn and coiled a soaker hose around them and soaked tree, flowers and ground all night.
Then this morning before it got hot we went out and dug a big hole--big enough to take the tree and the flowers around its trunk and the long brick things in a hexagonal wall. We mixed the reddish clay soil with the potting soil and put it around the tree's root ball and eased all the flowers out of their little pots and planted them in the mix. We tamped dirt clods and loose soil around the wall to hold it in place. Then we took the soaker hose and soaked everything again.
I hope it works.
The tree is standing up, short but brave with one single pink blossom and a sprinkling of green leaves. The flowers are daffodilling and hyacinthing and thinking about tuliping maybe in a week or two. The lawn around them is suffering somewhat under the loose dirt we couldn't scrape up--I think it will pull through but it is looking muddy and bedraggled. The extra clay went into some of the dips and holes in the lawn.
And two pairs of very muddy boots are drying by the back door.
