So you have decided that you need shade for your garden and a place for your insects and animals to rest and feed. It's time to plant a tree!
Step 1: Dig your Hole
Begin by digging a hole about a foot wide and deep. Depending on the type of baby tree you have purchased, you should adjust the hole width and depth accordingly. Place the dirt to the side to be used again later.
Step 2: Choose Your Tree
Try to choose a native tree to your area that would be best for you. We chose a willow tree for our garden!
Here is a link for native Midwest trees:
www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/staff/weeks/treelist.htm
Step 3: Plant Your Tree
Remove any tags or packaging and place the tree in the ground. Use the dirt from earlier to cover up the root-ball. For support, you can stick a straight branch into the ground and tie it to the tree.
Step 4: Protect your Tree
You can buy yourself a new fence or use recycled wood to surround your tree. We found a pile of free wood fence panels while driving down the street and used four of those to surround our tree, and you can potentially do the same. It doesn't have to be expensive and recycling is good for the Earth! If you want to protect your tree a little better, you can even add some chicken wire or special cloth made for protecting gardens.
Begin by digging a hole about a foot wide and deep. Depending on the type of baby tree you have purchased, you should adjust the hole width and depth accordingly. Place the dirt to the side to be used again later.
Step 2: Choose Your Tree
Try to choose a native tree to your area that would be best for you. We chose a willow tree for our garden!
Here is a link for native Midwest trees:
www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/staff/weeks/treelist.htm
Step 3: Plant Your Tree
Remove any tags or packaging and place the tree in the ground. Use the dirt from earlier to cover up the root-ball. For support, you can stick a straight branch into the ground and tie it to the tree.
Step 4: Protect your Tree
You can buy yourself a new fence or use recycled wood to surround your tree. We found a pile of free wood fence panels while driving down the street and used four of those to surround our tree, and you can potentially do the same. It doesn't have to be expensive and recycling is good for the Earth! If you want to protect your tree a little better, you can even add some chicken wire or special cloth made for protecting gardens.