I posted a few weeks ago about our hole dilemma. I mentioned an earth auger as a possibility and I took everyone's advice into account. I was going to rent one but 2nd Family's "R" gave me some advice as well so I decided to pull the trigger. Here is my new yard helper:
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| Earth Auger from Lowe's |
I bought a 'one man' auger at Lowe's. It came with the power head and a 10" (or maybe 8", I can't remember now) spiral bit for digging. I did some reading on the best way to handle them, started slowly (it has a throttle) and proceeded to make a hole!
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| Auger holes in clay soil |
Then another, and another....until I had five holes in a row along the side of the driveway. I was a bit messy at first, until I got the hang of it.
I used my Rubbermaid Cart to carry the trees and bags of soil down the LONG driveway and put them at each hole (not as hard on the old body).
My shiny, new auger, not so shiny now but hey, it was a lifesaver so I'm OK with that.
I used a shovel to widen the holes a bit (since these were 3 gallon containers). I filled the bottom of the holes with a special garden soil (a type that prevents over/under watering) and then around the trees once I centered them in the hole.
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| Image courtesy of: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cemap/vitex |
This is the tree we planted. It is called Vitex, or the more common nickname, "Texas Lilac", due to it's similarity in appearance to the lilac. It's drought tolerant (ding), adaptable to many soil types including clay (ding ding), and blooms from Spring to Fall (ding ding ding). Click HERE for more info.
It is, hopefully, the beginnings of color at the farm.
Baby steps, right?
Update, I had this post ready last weekend when I made the holes but it was pushed down my list of posts and I missed it. So I'm putting it up today. This weekend at the farm, it's been a week since they were all planted, a week without watering and 90+ degree temps, and they all looked great, in fact a couple were already blooming. Yay!
Baby steps, right?
Update, I had this post ready last weekend when I made the holes but it was pushed down my list of posts and I missed it. So I'm putting it up today. This weekend at the farm, it's been a week since they were all planted, a week without watering and 90+ degree temps, and they all looked great, in fact a couple were already blooming. Yay!
That looks a lot like what I call a butterfly bush. Need to look up whether its related.
ReplyDeleteNice looking machine you got there. Next you'll be putting up fence posts.
Oh, it would work wonders (and actually what it's primarily used for) to dig post holes. I thought it would certainly make for easier fence building in the future.
DeleteIt does look like a butterfly bush doesn't it? I never thought about it. It might be related, I'll have to check that out too.
1st Man,
ReplyDeleteAn auger is needed in Texas to dig holes. You have that hard red clay, and using a shovel you'll be there all day digging a hole. My mom and sister learned the hard way, 8 hours digging a hole by hand for a major tree. They went to Lowe's also and purchase an auger.
I love Texas Lilac's, they smell wonderful and are gorgeous. Enjoy your new trees!!
SO SO true. I asked 2nd Family how Ma (who lived there before) did it and they said she used a pick axe and would spend half the day digging a hole. Um, NO. We don't have time for that (not to mention I'm not sure i have the stamina, ha). I believe this will be one of the best purchases we've made as far as tools for the farm.
DeleteAren't they pretty? I'm hoping they grow well and look great along the driveway.
Congrats on your purchase. I'm sure you will use it again and again.
ReplyDeleteAnd again and again, ha. I'm already running down the list of things to dig holes for. :-)
DeleteI want one... It's shiney
ReplyDeleteIt's shiny and heavy and very powerful. It's so much fun, LOL!
DeleteYou will LOVE those Texas Lilacs! They are simply wonderful! I have planted quite a few here and have four more to go in somewhere! You can also start more from the seeds you will see on them. Slower than buying already established ones but some where down the road you might enjoy the fun of it. We even had the darn moles chew the roots off two at different times (before I discovered the daffodil trick with the moles) anyway I dug them up they looked terrible and had few roots left. I potted them up in some really good dirt and kept them watered. POOF they got well and grew new roots and will soon be going back in the ground! They are hardy and easy to care for. They are also just soooo pretty are they not with all those blooms. The butterflies and bumblebees love them! You could put some close to your veggy garden to draw in the bumblebees as they pollinate plants too! :O) ...oh and they also have medicinal value! ROFL can you tell I love them. :O)
ReplyDeleteI love to hear some first hand experience. Awesome. Thank you. They are really very pretty. Was at a restaurant the other night with some friends and they had them planted all around and they were huge and in bloom and just beautiful.
DeleteMedicinal value? I will check that out!! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Will also be looking for seeds,
what a great purchase! you will be digging holes for all kinds of things!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm already looking for ideas. :-)
DeleteThat's a nice piece of hardware. I would have loved to be able to used one of those when we were planting our 15 or so fruit trees this spring. Unfortunately, I don't think it would have been able to handle all of the huge rocks we pulled from the ground.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, they say (in the documentation I read before i bought it) that rocks (and large roots) can be the most serious dangers. We're lucky in a way not to have rocks in the soil, but in another way, rocks do mean the soil is more amenable to working with (once you get them out of course, ha).
DeleteI'm definitely going to use it next year when I plant more fruit trees. :-)
I live in Texas and the only nickname I've ever heard for a Vitex is Chaste Tree. They seem to bring bees and butterflies into our garden and friends who live in the country like them because the deer won't eat them.
ReplyDeleteI googled it and you're right, they are also called Chaste. I modified the post to put a link to some fascinating background about it (including why they called in the chaste tree as well). :-)
DeleteI need to borrow you for about a month! The things I could get done around my yard...!
ReplyDeleteLOL! that made me laugh!!! I could borrow someone like me too, ha. Actually, I got worn out after about 6 holes, it might take more than a month, haha.
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