northeast-flora-and-fauna

I talked about some of the conditions at a Chambers Brook tree planting ; today I thought I'd discuss the tactics. First there are the issues common to both trees and shrubs: Most of the time an auger had dug the holes so there was no question about where to plant the tree/shrub, and things like rocks and roots are essentially irrelevant. While I recognize that the pre-dug holes are a time-and-labor saver, there are a couple downsides. First, the auger was digging holes deeper and wider than needed for our trees/shrubs, necessitating some refilling of the hole before planting. Second, sometimes the soil was a clay that, after a day or two, would harden into something difficult to break up when refilling the hole. When we had to dig our own holes, sometimes you could easily dig a hole but in other situations rocks and/or roots made life quite a bit harder. And while I wore hard-soled boots/shoes that let me hop on the shovel, some others had softer shoes that could have made diggin...

Let's do something a little different today; I'm going to talk about a tree-planting activity organized by Raritan Headwaters Association . The last 3 days I've been planting native trees and shrubs in a field adjacent to  Chambers Brook in Readington Township. My impression is that this land is owned by the township. (We needed to gain access through the cooperation of a Christmas tree farm though there are plans for public access in the future. You probably shouldn't rush out there to check on my work.) The field used to be grazed by cows, probably before Readington owned the property. Though you can't tell it from this picture, the field is quite muddy and frequently quite lumpy. Although humans can't currently access this field without either trespassing or bushwhacking, the central New Jersey deer population can easily get here. To prevent deer from devouring the plantings, each plant gets its individual protection. Trees, expected to grow straight up, get...