Prepping for a New Tree

We have ornamental grasses in many places in our yard and occasionally they outgrow their location. We had one next to a path that had started to hang over into the path making it hard to get by. So I decided to take that grass out and put the new tree in it’s place. Take grass in the picture to the left is about the same size as the one I removed. Let me tell you that was a lot of work! The root ball is as tough as nails and goes on for a distance. After I dug it out I moved to to another grass garden in the front yard and transplanted it there. But the grass wasn’t the only obstacle.

This is the good firewood that was left after I went through the pile that was next o the ornamental grass. The rest of the wood was rotten or full of carpenter ants so I disposed of that deep in the woods. If I place this wood in the sun it should dry out and then we can use it in our fire pit.

You can see in this picture that I started building a stone wall around the area where the grass and wood were removed. I ran low on rocks and so ai went down the street to scrounge loose rock along the road. I do enjoy building stone walls. to me it seems like a kind of jigsaw puzzle. The goal is to try to make an attractive wall that is stable and performs it’s function well.

This is the finished (for now) product. After I completed the wall I added soil and compost behind it. There is ledge just a foot below the soil surface here, as is the case in much our our year, and so the extra depth of soil being retained behind the wall will hopefully be enough to sustain the new, dwarf nectarine tree. I think I may underplant the tree with New Guinea impatiens plants I am growing from seed. I will share a picture later in the season to show you how it comes out.