Well, we’ve got another weekend of tree planting under our belts. This one was a little bit more challenging than usual. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you the process that is involved in getting trees planted, but here goes:
- First, we have to figure out which addresses will be getting trees.
- Then a letter is sent out to the homeowners, letting them know they will be getting a tree.
- Once we know that we can plant the tree, it has to be delivered.
- After that, everything that needs to go into getting the tree planted has to happen, which means mixing soil with fertilizer, collecting tarps for the soil, and empty buckets for waste soil to be dumped into.
- Waste soil has to be collected and dumped once all the trees are planted.
Basically, if we don’t have the buckets to mix the soil in for the trees, we can’t plant. So a HUGE thank you to Annette at Oakland Nursery, who came to our rescue when the pots we had collected to mix soil in were taken. We would have been in trouble if Oakland hadn’t offered their pots for us to use.
Another huge thank you goes to Laura and the amazing, wonderful OSU students she collects for us each planting weekend. These students we had, along with our community helpers, made planting the trees a snap. We can’t thank all of our volunteers enough as these trees won’t plant themselves!
And thank you, Sam, for once again lending us your trusty truck to deliver trees, pick up dirt, and generally make anything we need happen. You are a great help to LOUA!
In talking to Laura, she thought that in three years, we have planted nearly 600 trees. I’ve really noticed this past week, in walking down the streets, the fruits of all of our labors. Beautiful trees that are starting to take off and make a difference. And every weekend we plant trees, my favorite part is hearing all of the thanks we get from the homeowners. With so many trees in the ground, your love and care for each of them makes all the difference in LOUA’s trees surviving and thriving.
That being said, we’ve got one more weekend to finish it all off. So I hope to see you this Saturday,10/18/13, 9am, at the LOUA kiosk.
Here’s some photos from yesterday…my favorite is this first one; just what we LOVE to see after we’ve planted a tree: the homeowner giving it water!
Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum 