This was the scene of our backyard on Friday afternoon:
My Dad and my sister Nancy came over to help layout the trees we’d plant on Saturday. We had feeble hopes that we might actually get some digging done on Friday, but it took us a couple hours just to figure out where we’d put all the trees we’d bought the weekend before.
In total, here is what we had to plant:
The one Taiwan Cherry Tree will grow:
-upwards of 25 feet tall
-20 feet wide
The one Redbud Tree we have will grow:
-25 feet tall
-15 feet wide
The one Riverbirch Giant tree will grow:
-65 feet tall
-50 feet wide
The three Nuttall Oak trees will grow:
-40 to 60 feet tall
-40 to 60 feet wide
The three Weeping Willow trees will grow:
-30 to 40 feet tall
-35 feet wide
The nine Green Giant Arborvitaes will grow:
-40 to 50 feet tall
-15 feet wide
The ten Leyland Cypresses will grow:
-30 feet tall
-10 feet wide
The seven Upright Japanese Maple will grow:
-15 feet tall
-10 feet wide
The six Loropetulem Shrubs will grow:
-5 feet tall
-5 feet wide
Obviously, we had our work cut out for us.
My Dad and sister had planted many, many trees before.
I, on the other hand, in my entire life, had planted zero.
I once tried to plant a honeysuckle bush and it died within 3 weeks.
By the end of Saturday, I felt like a horticulturist expert. We were digging and planting and planting and digging but by the end of the day we were getting so stupid with exhaustion I almost planted Jody thinking she would grow into a dogwood tree.
We were rather ambitious, for certain, but to make it even more ambitious, we also decided to bury about 400 feet in rubber and soaker hoses to help facilitate watering of all of these trees.
So at 6AM Saturday morning, Dad picked up a 2-man auger for digging all the holes, plus a trench-wench digging thing that also took both of us to move around.
After digging all the holes, we created a zig-zag trench all around the yard.
This alone exhausted us, but we were only getting started. We planted all the trees while Dad cleaned off the equipment and returned it (we only had them for 4 hours).
Nancy and I worked up what I thought was a pretty efficient planting system and we just cranked away all day. Dad eventually returned and started burying the hose.
Dad had to leave by 2:00, so that left me and Nancy to finish off burying the hoses and planting the rest of the trees.
By the end of the day, every single inch hurt. I had blisters on my toes from stomping so much dirt.
There’s still a lot of work to do on getting our “Hillbilly Irrigation System” working, but Dad seems determined to get it done this week.
I am absolutely amazed and humbled at how generous Nancy and Dad were with their time and talent. There’s no way I could have planted a single tree without them.
And now, after 10 years of having a barren clay-filled backyard, we’re well on the way to having our own little garden of Eden right here at home.
We’re tired of going to the doctor.
Hat-tip to 
