Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Planting Trees in Mineral Palace Park

Doing things for the ‘hood.

Aquila has donated 10 trees to be planted in Mineral Palace Park.  We need at least 2 volunteers per tree to help with the planting of these trees.  The City will dig the holes so we will just need to place the trees and fill the holes. 

We will planting these trees on Saturday, May 19th and will meet at 10:00 near the swimming pool. Jean Latka with Trees Please will give us instructions.  Please bring a shovel and rake.  We hope to get more than 20 people to show our support for this project and Mineral Palace Park. 

Please pass this information along to anyone you know who didn’t get this e-mail.  They don’t need to live in the OHNO area.  Also, please give me a call if you’ll be able to help out so I know that we’ll have enough volunteers.

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1. TO: Carolyn Lowery (Organizer)
   RE: Digging It

   As a Master Gardener, I hope that the people who dig the holes for these new trees know the proper method for doing so.

   In order to be sure of that, I recommend you get up on line and check out some information:

   http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07419.html (Large Deciduous Trees)
   http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1712.html (Preparing the Planting Site)
   http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1120.html (Tree Placement Tips)
   http://coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/Trees/treeplnt.htm (Spring Tree Planting: Do It Right)

   I mention this because at a meeting of PACOG’s Transportation Advisory Committee, they were talking about a project scheduled for improving US 50 on the Mesa to include trees.

   Looking over their diagram of how a tree would be planted, I noticed a serious flaw. They were just going to bore a hole in the ground and drop the tree into it. The problem is that research has determined that straight-sided holes inhibit proper growth of roots, due to difference in soil texture.

   If the soil is loose, the roots will naturally grow that way, until they hit soil that is more compact, i.e., never been disturbed. Then the roots will, as with most living things, seek the path of least resistance, folding back in on the hole immediately around the root ball.

   In order to avoid this, the hole needs to be wider and sloped into a saucer shape.

   This will require more work, but it enhances the survivability and growth of the newly planted tree.

   I’m going to try to be there, myself, for this event.

   Regards,

   Chuck

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  05/02  at  05:54 AM

2. TO: Carolyn, et al.
   RE: Holes

   I am informed, by Carolyn, via e-mail, that she suspects that the city people who are going to dig the holes are just going to dig straight-sided holes and be done with it.

   This means, if we want to give these trees the best possible chance of growth and survival, we’ll need to widen these holes into a saucer-shaped hole before planting the trees.

   People coming to help should bring long-handled and/or d-handled shovels and spades. Maybe a pick-mattock as well. There will be some digging to be done.

   Regards,

   Chuck

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  05/02  at  11:25 AM

3. P.S. Don’t forget to bring work gloves, water and sunscreen.

   .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  05/02  at  11:26 AM

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