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Day 5: Exactly how long does it take to plant a tree?
The answer, at least today, was 24 minutes. To be honest, I was pretty impressed with myself. Here is what was included in the 24 minutes (FYI...I was the only one at the planting):
- Removing the tree from the tree bag
- Removing the dirt on the top of the tree until the root flare was exposed
- Dealing with some broken glass at the dig site
- Removing the turf from the ground and then digging the hole
- Measuring the hole depth, compared it to the height of the root flare, put some dirt back in the hole
- Placed the tree in the hole
- Examined the tree from all four sides to make sure it was straight, placed dirt under two sides, examined tree again (was now satisfied it was straight)
- Put the dirt from the hole back in the hole
- Danced on the dirt to remove the air bubbles
- Placed the sod upside down surrounding the tree
- Placed mulch on top of the dirt making a nice donut appearance
24 Minutes, that is it. That is the amount of TV there is (excluding commercials) in a 30 minute program. Just think, instead of watching 1 episode of the Jersey Shore you could plant 2 trees. According to a study by CISCO, the average person spends 24 minutes a day on social networking sites...so if you just jumped offline for 1 day you could plant a tree! Looking for a fun new exercise, planting a tree would be a great 24 minute routine you could do once in a week in place of lifting weights or using a stair master.
I think you get the picture. It really doesn't take that long. The tree that I put in the ground today was a Red Maple (Acer rubrum) at 2145 North New Jersey What is really cool is that thee is in the esplanade. This is a new word I just learned, iso if you are like me, an esplanade is a long open stretch of paved or grassy ground. I always new that I loved neighborhoods that have esplanades (I just didn't know their name), because they add so much character to the road. The Red Maple will have brilliant red colors each fall when its leaves turn.
Tomorrow I'm heading to Little Flower, pending the approval of the Flora Permit that I applied for. Crossing my fingers that it is approved or I may be scrambling to find a location. Stay tuned!
