What is it with super chilly Thursdays? We were planting trees again, and freezing our fingers off.

This time, we planted 3 Hican (hickory x pecan), 5 sweet (edible) chestnut, and 3 Turkish/tree hazel. I had ordered only 3 of the hazel, but they sent 5, so I was able to send 2 home with mom, too. Yay for extras!

We still have the two kinds of oaks left to plant (8 total), but they’ve been quite happy in the bin of soil, so they can stay there one more week. They’re going in a slightly different area, as oak leaves are too high in tannins to be fed to animals, while the leaves of nut trees are nutritive for them. So the oaks will have a grove of their own, very likely heavily spawned with mushrooms, once they are big enough to cast the necessary shade. (So, in about 15 years maybe)

Once all the trees are planted, I need to go back through and fit them each with a landscape fabric ring to hold the weeds and grass away from them and give them less competition to establish. These are TINY trees. Many are in the 5-6 inch range, the bigger ones only hitting a foot or so. They need the help for at least a year or two. If I hadn’t flagged every one of them, I’d never find them again. Blessedly the neighbour’s pony, Nicky, who lives free in the field (with our full permission) has also not found them. Or if she has, she has not been tempted to nibble. We did find her hoofprints on the driveway yesterday, so she has clearly been exploring 😅

We dug up another dozen spruces, too, but tried hard to keep them more bare root this week. Root balls are HEAVY. The friend who got the last load was thrilled with them and wanted more. And tomorrow, I have friends coming to dig some of the white pines as well. We simply have too many, and if we can share them instead of just cutting them down, it’s a win for everyone.