The hole wasn't big enough. I knew that when we were trying to get the tree and root ball out of the garden at Ruby's (Annmarie's Grandmother) house. I took my nephews. We tried to move the root ball and tree out of the hole. It was three feet in diameter and so heavy it was all we could do to get the tarp wrapped around it. 6 tries later, and five stops because it was too, heavy and five more to dump out the dirt that keeps breaking loose, we dug an angle into the side of the hole to get the root ball out of the hole. Three more attempts to get the root ball into the back of the pickup (three foot dead lift), no success (did dump two more piles of dirt out of the tarp). The root ball is significantly smaller now than when we started! Almost 50% smaller now, much easier to work with, the neighbor was watching and I went to use a ladder as a slide to get into the back of the pickup and he loaned me a 8 foot 12 inch board, so we could slide it up into the pickup. We then filled in the hole and moved the three new planters around in the garden before leaving Grandmas. Of course, the hole needed to be bigger. I in my esteem wisdom, I had decided that the tree needed to go right were the old paper birch had died. I had to chop out the roots nonstop to get the hole dug. We got the tree in the ground.
In the theme that nothing is ever easy or works right the first time, the hole was too deep. So we had to lift the tree and throw more dirt in the hole. Now if only the tree will survive its harrowing brush with death. I put lots of water on the tree and it is right next to the water spigot. Hopefully, I can keep it alive. Took me over 5 hours to dig everything and complete the endeavor. My arms and back ache from all the digging. But, I had promised Ruby I would get the tree out and I don't say no to her, so the tree is gone. So here is the completed version of our new front lawn ornament...
I am really going to get back to the stairs tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment