BLOG
Day 3 & 4 - What we take out of the ground we put back in!
This weekend was a new adventure in tree planting. Though the trees I planted @WISHTV and the Humane Society were replacement trees for ones taken from us too soon, this time I also had to remove the dead ones from the ground. Fortunately, it only took one hard push and the pull and they came out of the ground, roots and all. I then was able to plant two trees along Binford Blvd., a White Oak (Quercus Alba) on Saturday and Kentucky Coffee Tree (Gymnoclauds dioicus) on Sunday,
These two trees, along with two I am replacing later this month, are a part of approximately 300 trees that have been planted over the past 5 years. I can recall when I first moved to Indy 13 years ago, and I had my first Binford experience. I needed to get some film developed so I pulled out the yellow pages and found Cord Camera at Binford and 71st.*. When I got there I found it was located in a stand-alone building amongst a sea of run down strip centers.
Drive by now and it's like a whole different city; the economic development has been nothing short of spectacular. There is now a fantastic new Kroger, a new strip center where Cord Camera was is now thriving, and Binford and 62nd hosts my favorite Farmers Market every Saturday in the spring through fall. Maybe the best way to see the impact is to see the before and after pictures from 71st and Binford. I recently had a chance to hear Jane Lommel, the former president of BRAG (Binford Redevelopment Area Growth, Inc), and her message was loud and clear. The redevelopment of the area was directly tied to the trees that went in the ground. It showed that the residents cared about where they lived and were taking an active involvement in its revitalization. Obviously, it took more than just planting trees, but the trees laid the “roots” of the future success (I couldn’t resist the pun).
As the month unfolds, I’ll be sharing all sorts of information about how to plant a tree. One quote that I have heard from Andrew Hart of KIB that I really like is, “Everything we take out of the ground, we put back in.” When I go to a planting, I take a tarp with me, so that I can place all the dirt I dig out onto it. It makes it very easy to get the dirt back in the hole after the tree is in place. When Andrew says everything, he means everything. This includes the turf. If you place the turf around the tree the gross will be smothered and you will build up a border around the tree.
This also includes the dead tree I pulled out of the ground. I took it home, ran it through a chipper to make mulch and returned it to the pile. If you don’t have a chipper, you still have options! I have used dead trees to build a border for my herb garden as opposed to going to a lumber yard. I have other friends who have cut up dead trees for firewood. Of course the most important thing to do with a dead tree is replace it!
* Go back and read that sentence again. It's amazing how things have changes in the past 13 years. Film and yellow pages...
