Purchased 5 trees for the yard. Now I have to dig some holes. :(

[bbhaag]

My wife and I headed out to a local nursery that we used to work for and purchased 5 trees for our landscaping project at our house. All of them were on sale and because we worked there for close to 6 years we were able to get them a little cheaper. They are a mixture of evergreen privacy screens and shade trees. This home we purchased last fall was a blank slate as far as landscaping goes so anything you see in the pics besides the grass was done by us.

The five trees we bought are a Marmo Maple, 2 Green Giant arborvitae, Royal Frost Birch, and a Concolor Fir. I just got them placed today. Weather permitting tomorrow I begin digging the wholes and getting them in the ground.

They loaded them up on the trailer at the nursery and we brought them home. This is NOT how they were loaded when we traveled. I tilted them upright for the pictures.

I brought home my little skidsteer from work. It made it a snap to get these bad boys off the trailer and to their final destination. This is one of the Green Giant arbs.

Here's a pic of the 3.0" caliper Marmo Maple. It's a nice hybrid maple in the Freeman genus. Good habit and great fall color are some it's attributes.

This beast is a Concolor Fir. It's a white Fir most notable for its great shape, longevity in the landscape, and its soft needles. On a side note the skidsteer can lift up to 600 pounds and this guy had it tipping for forward.

These are the two Green Giant Arborvitae. These are very hardy evergreens that will help add a little privacy from the neighbors.

Last but not least is the Royal Frost Birch. It is the smalles tree we purchased because it came in a 15 gallon container. It's a beautiful specimen tree favored for its white bark and purple colored leaves.

 

[Greenman]

You're going to dig the holes with the bobcat I hope.

 

[lxskllr]

Nice collection of trees. :^)

 

[bbhaag]

You're going to dig the holes with the bobcat I hope.

Unfortunately not....I will have to dig them by hand. I don't have an augur attachment and even with the bucket its just not powerful enough to dig holes to the depth that is needed.

Like I mentioned above I worked for this nursery for 6 years. For 3 of those years I planted trees that were sold in retail not part of a landscape project. I planted anywhere from 450-600 trees a year over that 3 year span so around 1300-1800 trees total all by hand. Digging the holes by hand shouldn't be to bad but of course that was around 10-15 years ago. I'm sure it was easier when I was 25-30 than now that I'm 40 haha.

Nice collection of trees. :^)

Thanks! I like trees and this is just the start. One of the nice things about this house was it came on a large lot so there is plenty of room for more.🙂

 

[Greenman]

Unfortunately not....I will have to dig them by hand. I don't have an augur attachment and even with the bucket its just not powerful enough to dig holes to the depth that is needed.

Like I mentioned above I worked for this nursery for 6 years. For 3 of those years I planted trees that were sold in retail not part of a landscape project. I planted anywhere from 450-600 trees a year over that 3 year span so around 1300-1800 trees total all by hand. Digging the holes by hand shouldn't be to bad but of course that was around 10-15 years ago. I'm sure it was easier when I was 25-30 than now that I'm 40 haha.

Thanks! I like trees and this is just the start. One of the nice things about this house was it came on a large lot so there is plenty of room for more.🙂

It would kill me to dig a hole by hand with a bobcat sitting right there mocking me.

 

[bbhaag]

It would kill me to dig a hole by hand with a bobcat sitting right there mocking me.

Haha yeah I get that but I think you are over estimating the capabilities of this little skidsteer. Just for reference it has a two cylinder Kohler engine that produces a measly 16 horsepower and weighs in at just 2400 pounds. It's a lightweight man, it just wasn't built for this kind of work.

I don't mind anyway, it reminds me of the old days when shit was more simple. Just me and another guy loading up 4-8 trees in the truck and going from site to site planting trees. I kinda miss getting my hands in the dirt if ya know what I mean.
Anymore I gotta worry about marketing and advertising budgets, what the hot new color is gonna be in 2020, what our Spring Celebration is gonna feature, is payroll getting to high??, and other shit like that.....

 

[Greenman]

You need a mini excavator, stat.
My days of busting ass on manual labor are over. I use equipment whenever possible now, as 44 years of construction have left me with injuries that just won't heal. I just spent $3k on a freaking wheelbarrow because I refuse to push one anymore.

 

[Micrornd]

I just spent $3k on a freaking wheelbarrow because I refuse to push one anymore.

And these days it's damn near impossible to find anyone that can push a fully loaded wheelbarrow more than a few feet without dumping it sidewise 🙄

 

[Sukhoi]

I feel like this is good justification for buying an auger attachment for the Bobcat.

 

[bbhaag]

So I finished up planting the trees today. I saved the biggest two for last which is the Marmo Maple and the Concolor Fir. Total planting time for both trees was just over 2 hours. The Fir was by far the worst.

Started at 9:45 this morning. I thought it would be best to get the bigger one out of the way while I was fresh. It's hard to tell from the pic but the hole had to be 44" across and 22" deep.

Hole is dug and I'm ready to get the Fir in the hole. Took about 45 minutes to dig the ground.

It's planted and looks really nice. I think the location we chose will really add to the house in the coming years.

About an hour later the hole for the Maple was dug and ready to be planted.

The tree is in and my wife is cutting off the cage before we back fill the hole.

I watered it in and spread a bag of mulch over the root ball to help retain moisture. That should do it for this year. It's getting late in the season and when we went back to the nursery they were really picked over and nothing really stuck out to us.

 

[bbhaag]

I feel like this is good justification for buying an auger attachment for the Bobcat.

Because this skidsteer is so small Bobcat doesn't make any attachments for it besides forks and bucket.
I have a New Holland TC40D tractor with a three point hitch. We have an augur attachment for it but it is to large to fit on my trailer and I didn't feel like driving it across town to my house.

Last time I did that the local cops pulled me over and gave me shit for it....🙁

 

[lxskllr]

I like that fir. Pretty tree. Just looked it up, and they get pretty big. You planted it fairly close to the house. That's something I'd do, but most people are afraid of big trees, and wouldn't do that :^D

You should look into some food trees; nuts and fruits. Dunno if pawpaw grows up your way, but that's something a little different you could plant.

 

[bbhaag]

I like that fir. Pretty tree. Just looked it up, and they get pretty big. You planted it fairly close to the house. That's something I'd do, but most people are afraid of big trees, and wouldn't do that :^D

You should look into some food trees; nuts and fruits. Dunno if pawpaw grows up your way, but that's something a little different you could plant.

Yeah the Fir is a nice tree but man was it a bitch to plant. My wife picked it out based on its shape and size. The nice thing about this particular Fir is that it is slower growing and shade tolerant. I don't know if you noticed but in the pic I posted it is in the shade of a mature silver maple. Due to this location it will most likely reach a max size of 20-25 foot wide and 30-40 foot tall. From the garage to the edge of the Fir is around 20 feet so that allows plenty of room and due to site conditions we are hoping it won't interfere with the house.

We don't do fruit trees just bushes. Fruit trees are to messy and to much work. Right now we have 2 sweet cherry bushes, a Fall Gold raspberry, a Northland blueberry bush, and a Canadice grape that were all planted earlier this year in addition to the ornamental trees I posted in this thread.