As I have posted before, our Country House property has NO shade in the "living" area of the property. The only shade is oaks & pecans along the fence line, way far away from the house & barns.
We purchased three big oak trees a couple of months back - over 15', to plant nearer the house area. They were waayyy reduced due to the 'top heaviness' of them. Brought them home to the City House & kept them alive for 2 months. Almost lost one. But did drastic surgery to help it along & it lived!
They survived the drive albiet a bit ragged to the County House over Labor Day weekend. It was hot & humid & a lot of hard work for two 50+ year olds. But, we got them planted! Thank goodness for a heavy duty auger & good shovels.
Husband augered & I dug dirt out of the holes w/a lot of his digging help. The trees were in 30 gallon pots. That's about a 40" wide x 24" deep hole, dug in clay soil (if you can call it that). Here's a couple of pictures of 2 of them:
This was hard work but very satisfying. We also got more newspaper & mulch around the fruit trees & willows. And, pulled about 150 bricks out of an old firepit that we are 'filling' in. Saved the dirt from the dugout trees to fill in that hole.
Overall, a very long two days & needless to say we were very tired. But, got all the hard work done Sat. & Sun.
I got up early on Mon. & walked around the property line. I found what I think are Morning Glories, with bees going crazy gathering pollen (husband was busy stalking a gator that had invaded the pond - hopefully he 'got' him). Anyway, the flowers & bees were lovely (not great pics but I'm just documenting anyway):
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We decided to wait until winter to work on the raised garden beds. We are just too old to work w/blocks & leveling & such in the heat. We have 3 years to get them prepared anyway (actually 2 years & 8 months, but who's counting?)
6 comments:
keep those morning glories if the bees love them - that way, the bees make hives near or on your land and will be with you the whole rest of your lives...and the most important thing to have on a farmy/homestead thingie is BEES! glad to see that you have got so much done in such a short time. things are looking great DFW! i love the new trees!
your friend,
kymber
Thank you kymber! It was a lot of hard work but very well worth it. If only I could keep it up afterwards, I would stay in shape...
Nice job, oaks grow so fast, by the time you retire in 2 years 8 months (Yes, I'm counting for you) they'll be beautiful! Keep the morning glories! I think they're awesome and of course I have a soft spot for bees!
Those look like pin oaks. I planted the willow oak version out back, but we get volunteers all the time.
I gather that the big tree transplants have about the same success rate as small tree transplants, but boy do you get a big jump on the growth cycle.
I have made the mistake of tranplanting in the Spring. Maybe up North it would work, but in the South it will cost you a ton in water and the tree might still fry. I have a (now huge) River Birch that almost didn't make it -going so far as to have to cut it back to the core at one point. If had just waited a few months until fall, I would have been much better off.
Thanks Izzy. Husband actually asked if I would be interested in putting in a couple of hives next year. Of course I said yes!
Russell,
They are actually Laurel Oaks. They had gotten so top heavy at the nursery that they were having a hard time keeping them upright so they reduced the price by over $100. Otherwise, we never would have been able to afford this size tree.
The one tree that almost didn't make it had to be cut waaay back so it isn't as tall as these 2.
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