30 Before 30: Item 5

Adding Item #5 - Plant a Tree quickly earned a spot on my list as it just seemed like the right thing to do. In our polluted world, I wanted to give a little green back to mother Earth and do my part to enrich the air and soil.

Hippie-dippie reasons aside, I also have always wanted to be good at gardening. It just seems like one of those domestic skills that so many of my girlfriends have taken to naturally that I just can't do...you know like cooking, sewing, and cleaning (can't do a one of them). My lucky spouse...he married a domestic gem, didn't he?

Anyway, a number of things have contributed to my not-so-green thumb including forgetfulness, frequent out-of-town trips, and complete disregard for planting instructions or watering. Also, I have a phobic-level fear of snakes that makes it virtually impossible for me to go into my backyard between May and September. I know it's irrational and I don't care...keep those spawns of the devil away from me.

So, in efforts to let out my inner tree-hugger, catch up with my domestically-progressive friends and prove to the snakes that I am not afraid, planting a tree seemed like a great lesson in gardening and a small step towards saving the planet (and I waited until October until all the snakes were gone...partial fail).

To make things as difficult as possible, the location I selected for our tree was the home to an Aspen stump. So, first things first, I had to dig out the stump.

A much more difficult task than I had anticipated...the spouse helped me out with his ditch-digging experience from college landscaping jobs and a chainsaw.

I selected the tree, a lovely Maple, which my spouse purchased as my belated, four-year anniversary present. Isn't it the traditional four-year anniversary gift to give/get wood (immature giggle)? Hmm, maybe that's year five? Well, whatever the rule, that's what I got.

I carefully followed the instructions on a bag of "Tree and Shrub Soil" to dig the hole two-times bigger than the base of the tree. I then placed the tree in the hole and surrounded it with the special soil, manure, old dirt and a thick layer of mulch to keep its little roots warm in these cool, fall temps.

My Tree!

I feel pretty darn good about planting a tree....I learned a little something about stump removal and proper tree-planting procedure while giving a little gift to nature.