Christmas came early
December 19, 2019I got home fairly late yesterday and nearly missed the package that had arrived. How you miss an eight foot long two foot wide package in a porch I am not quite sure, but I nearly managed it. I am very relieved I did spot it as I am forever boggled by the other halfs ability to miss things. We had been warned our Christmas present would be arriving, and it would need our input so we opened it there and then.
It turned out to be 2 silver birch trees complete with a planting pack, stakes and shields. How amazing is that? This determined what we would be doing today. A morning of digging and planting.
After walking around the orchard we decided to add the silver birches to the ring of trees around the oak. Of course this is right at the far end of the field, but we do have a decent wheelbarrow now so getting everything there wasn’t too bad.
Our soil is clay and chalk wet and oh so sticky. I have been amazed how tough and chewy grass roots are. For these trees I needed to lift a patch of turf, cutting it is tricky, but lifting it is horrible. It does not want to be cut at all. With two ofnus on the job we did manage it without either of us doing ourselves too much damage. I absolutely love the auger. For these trees I used it to make four holes, and doing that broke up the rest of the soil in the hole, which makes digging it out so much easier.
Another mystery I have found since moving here is compost. It comes is big heavy densely packed bags. They clearly have a lot of volume, then as you use it you break it up which should increase the volume, yet when you add it to soil it doesn’t seem to add volume. How can that possibly happen? Anyway, having dug our holes, added compost and special food which can with the trees, the trees got planted. Packing the soil back in was surprisingly difficult, our soil sticks like glue to footwear, so you stand on it to push it in asnd it comes with your foot when you lift it. Still we did the best we can, and the trees seem solid and happy. They have been well watered, but given how far they are from the house I am really hoping for regular rain, sorry folks.
