Category Archives: Leaves

Planting Norway Pine

Planting Norway pine trees serves a dual purpose: One creates Christmas trees and the other  provides habitat for wildlife. That was the intent of starting a Norway pine nursery in early November 2018 on private property in the Crocker Hills of Wisconsin.

The trees were ordered through the Arbor Day Foundation and arrived as bare root trees. The first image shows the site preparation. Each tree needed three feet of space, so the calculation was to create an area roughly 15′ by 6-7′ to start the 10 trees. Leaves were cleared and holes prepared with some roots needing to be cut. That was the first day and while the site was readied, the roots were separated and allowed to soak for three to six hours in water.

Five steel fence posts were also pounded into the ground to form the wildlife barrier once the trees were planted; a sixth post would be added when planting and mulching was completed.

The next day, chicken wire fencing was attached to four of the fence posts, leaving one of the long sides open to work on the field. Each of the trees was carefully planted in one of the ten holes, dirt filled back in by hand and gently patted down…not packed hard. Water was poured into the indentations after the trees were secure and upright. Once those steps were done, mulch was spread around the trees, the sixth fence post was pounded in, and the rest of the chicken wire was secured to keep animals out.

The goal was to get the trees started, protect them until they can survive on their own, and then replant them in 3-4 years.

 

 

Raking Fall’s Leaves

For most of us, yard chores are a necessity that is often despised.

A landscaper who loves to use natural elements in designing a yard used to promote bumper stickers with the slogan “Lawns are for Losers.”

How many of us detest having to mow the lawn and pollute the air with those exhaust fumes?

Or despise the back-breaking work of shoveling snow off the sidewalk and drive?

And what about raking leaves?Red Leaf Machickanee 9-29-13

If you’ve ever wondered how many leaves there are on your trees, a USA Snapshot in USA Today used sources Nature magazine and American Grove.org to report that 200,000 leaves could fall from one large mature tree.  Time for a leaf blower?

If you have five large mature trees in your landscape, you’re going to potentially rake one million leaves, and what are you going to do with them?  It once was that you could pile them up and burn them, but that’s not acceptable today.  You pile them up on the curb and the municipality hauls them off to a yard waste site or landfill.  You can mulch them, too.

Mother nature takes care of the leaves that fall on forest floors.  They naturally deteriorate and mulch the woodlands, so why do we rake?

Odds are we want our yards to look nice and neat and clean.  Same reason we mow or shovel.

So as you  tackle those chores, appreciate the beauty of those colorful leaves as they gently float to your lawn and create a kaleidoscope blanket on the grass.