Watering trees
I've planted about 40 trees since moving here to
Three Meadows, and one of my daily chores during the summer is a big watering
circuit. I'm too cheap to buy large trees with established roots, so the tiny
saplings I get need lots of help early on to keep their soil moist in the
intense sun here.
Mostly, it's an
excuse to get outside.
Theoretically,
proper watering technique for trees is to "deep water" them, so that you trickle
water slowly over hours, so as to make the deep soil moist, encouraging the tree
to send nice deep roots. That's a pain with so many trees, so I cheat by
putting a 5 gallon bucket with a nail hole in the bottom near each tree. It
takes about 12 hours to empty, which works just about
right.
My mom always told me the best
time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second best time is
today.
In ten years, this property will be a nice orchard. I hope.
Filed Sun - June 8, 2003, 12:16 PM in
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