Song: World of Dreams
Group: Future World Music
The first of two Osakazuki Japanese Maples arrived a couple days ago.
This is the smallest one (a one year old sapling)...
while the other one...
which is coming at the end of October...
is a three year old sapling.
This Japanese Maple will go in on the front door side of the house...
halfway up the walkway.
Once it is fully grown...
it should shade the whole walkway...
and parts of both driveways.
I had made the mistake of thinking this would be an easy job with these tools...
on the day of arrival of the Japanese Maple.
I hadn't realized that the ground was tough...
very tough...
way too tough to dig with my standard tools.
On the following day...
I drove to Woodland Park to their large hardware store.
I knew I needed...
at the very least...
a large and heavy duty pickaxe.
And realizing that the soil was made up of hardened clay and rocks...
I knew I would have to amend the soil with potting soil...
pea sized gravel...
and a layer of mulch on top.
I bought two bags...
as I will initially be planting two trees and multiple flowers before the end of Autumn.
I have my 100 ft. hose...
and 10 cu ft of mulch.
I also bought 360 lbs of pea gravel as I will have to do a lot of soil amending.
I will have to dig down and mix in this to ensure adequate drainage for all of the trees
and flowers I am going to plant in the future.
I got this heavy duty pickaxe.
Even though the pickaxe head is 5 lbs...
and had been built extra sturdily...
I was hardly making headway with it.
I had to do multiple strikes at the ground with it to loosen the soil...
just a little bit.
On some portions...
the clay was extremely hard...
and on other portions...
thick roots or rocks blocked the way.
This is going to take a very long time to complete.
I am going to have to dig deep...
and I will then have to drill down and sideways with an auger
to ensure root paths and a plentiful amount of drainage.
I don't know how deep the extremely hard clay runs...
but I must be able to penetrate to a layer beyond it to establish adequate drainage...
as Japanese Maples must have complete drainage or they will die.
As I had started digging just half an hour before sunset...
I could only get to this point before shutting it down for the day.
I expect to re-start early in the morning tomorrow...
so long as the weather is clear enough.
There are supposed to be intermittent showers tomorrow.
However...
they usually don't start until the late afternoon or early evening.
I just know that this project is going to run far longer that I had anticipated.
But...
once it is completed...
I hope to have this Japanese Maple as one of my signature trees for my property.
Once it is mature...
it will greet me every time I arrive or leave...
and I will be able to see it from much of my home.
And...
every time I see it in the future...
I will think how all of the effort was worth it.
Somehow …. It seems comical using a pick axe. Truly mountain man activities
ReplyDeleteYeah...it is far more difficult than I could have imagined. Hopefully...it all goes well today. I want to get my tree planted.
ReplyDeleteI think that these first two trees will be a good test as to whether these Japanese maples can survive in your environment. You may be able to put in enough new soil to start with but wonder if it will suffice over time as the tree grows. And then there's the elevation, temperature and climate. But always good to try. Hoping your efforts will pay off.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was my initial fear about the maples. However, other less vigorous trees survive altitude and cold weather. That is why I must spend so much time in the initial planting of the maples. I will actually be digging far deeper than recommended for trees. I will also auger in many smaller holes in the sides and bottom. However, the key to the flourishing of the maples will be in their adaptability to the surrounding soil. I will be putting in a mixture of gravel and potting soil, but only to amending the soil. I will be backfilling it with the native soil in at least a 50% mixture. The key to its flourishing in the future is for it to be able to sustainably grow in the native soil. In this endeavor, I will be drilling many holes throughout the initial hole to ensure the roots will have the ability to take hold in the new soil. I will be fertilizing only once at the beginning of the growing season, so as to stimulate growth during warm weather, but allow it to naturally shut down before winter to protect it from die off in subzero temperatures. For the first few seasons...I will also be surrounding the sapling with a mini greenhouse of plastic wrap using the tree stakes as a frame. I will also put in insulating moss or mulch to protect the tree from cold damage until it matures more. I desperately want my trees to mature into what I can envision them becoming before I die.
ReplyDelete