Soggy Ground
After a visit to the tree farm, we chose four small White Spruce trees to plant in the front yard. They are about 4′ tall, and represent about eight years of growth. These are native Alaska trees, very hearty, and will withstand wind very well. We considered planting Colorado Blue Spruce, they are thick, full, and gorgeous, but won’t thrive as well in the wind. And our front yard gets some good wind.
The trees were dug out of the ground and the root balls wrapped in burlap. We were advised to get them into the ground in no less than 24 hours. Yikes, we were not prepared to plant them so quickly. So, we changed our plans and spent the afternoon digging holes. It took both my husband and I working together to unload each tree and carefully place them into the holes. The procedure we followed was; first fill the hole with water and let it drain, fill it again and add a chemical that would prevent shock. Place the tree in the water filled hole and pack the root ball tightly with soil. If you can picture this, we are on our hands and knees stuffing dirt into water making mud, within minutes we were covered with mud! Mud on our glasses, clothes, boots, hands and arms generously coated so that the handles of the shovel, rake and hoe became muddy as well.
It was quite a sight! But, after a few hours the trees were in the ground standing nice and straight, and their basins full of water. In a few years they will grow lovely and tall, gracing the front lawn and bordering the driveway.
During the night the rain began, and it has been raining for more than twelve hours now. The ground is soaked, everything is mud, and our landscape project is on hold until things dry out a bit. But, we are quite content because out front are four perky little White Spruce trees looking very good in their new home.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
