Remember Earth Day…ya know, like last April? Well, you may not have heard, but last April, Lowe’s gave away trees in honor of Earth Day. As luck would have it, Earth Day weekend fell in line with Easter weekend and my whole family was in town. Saturday morning we loaded up the van and headed to Lowe’s where we secured 6 free trees (one for each of us).The trees were really small, and sadly I didn’t get any good pictures of them in their newborn tree state. You’ll have to believe me, they are the kind you got in 2nd grade on Arbor Day, a small stick with some pine needles attached.
Now, you know my history of plant neglect (here), so I wanted to be really sure I knew my tree strategy before I stuck my free saplings into the ground. I read the package and it said that the trees should really grow in a pot for their first year. Wanting to break my streak of plant neglect, I went to Target and bought 6 pots, one for each tree. Now it may come as a surprise to you (I know it did to me), that once I got them potted, these trees GREW fast. I couldn’t believe the rate at which they sprouted limbs in their safe pots.
I noticed a few weeks back that my trees had seemed to stop growing and I really was at a loss for why (ya know, since I was so studiously keeping them alive). A quick glance and I discovered they were outgrowing their pots! Not wanting to go buy 6 new larger pots for my trees to grow in, I decided it was time to plant those puppies in the ground and see who takes flight.
With my mom in town to help us fix the Hole In the House of 2011, I decided to take advantage of her green thumb to help me transplant the trees and hopefully start them off on the right foot. We also had some leftover chicken wire and stakes that we had pulled out of the old garden, so we reused that to prevent the trees from getting ran over by the dogs. We don’t really have a wildlife problem in our yard because of Kirby and Lucy, but they have a running problem, so to avoid being trampled, fence was in order.
Some day, you know, like in 20 years, some one is really going to thank us for the view blocking properties of these trees. Until then, I’m going to do my darndest not to kill ‘em (and yes, that is still a hole from the former playset’s sandbox, baby steps).
The biggest of my baby trees. Did anyone else take Lowe’s up on their free tree offer? Am I the only one who gets really excited at no cost (and therefore low risk) plant projects? Does your dog insist on being in any picture you ever try to take?
Happy Saturday, hope it’s less rainy near you than it is here!
