New Beginnings

After the recent take down of our Aspens, we have been eager to put in another tree in its place.  We received several recommendations for Greenspire Lindens as it fits our style of gardening and care (i.e. hope it can survive on its own).  Zach and Lorna were in town and have an account with a tree farm over in Erie and were actually headed out that way so we had them tag/reserve a tree for us while they were there but then we were quickly informed that we needed to pick it up to plant it within two weeks!

Our second decision point after tagging the tree was if we wanted to pick it up and plant it ourselves or have the tree farm do it.  After considering the extra $750 for the service, Tara quickly suggested we just do it ourselves, so the boys and I got started on digging a 4' x 4' x 18" hole. No sweat!  Just a bit each day...or so we thought.  In the beginning, everyone was all smiles.

Basically, we would spend an hour each day digging a little bit and hauling the dirt and all the junk out.  It still seemed like a good plan in the beginning, but we started to encounter some of the roots that weren't fully ground out by the tree removal service.  Some of these "roots" were like 6-8 inches in diameter and fairly deep underground.

 Here is Gage sitting in the hole after excavating some more. You can see some of the roots we are dealing with there to his right.  In the end, I had to buy a few tools to help us punch through.  I picked up a nice axe and a small chainsaw but the axe got more use due to the awkwardness of the hole size.  Still a ways to go and time is ticking away!  I think I have blisters covering both hands so I am taking a few days off to heal some skin back before continuing with more but we are having fun all taking turns hitting this thing together.