You can get quite creative here as well. One planter showed me a video how, in soft sand, he didn’t even need to close his hole because the sand just fell into the hole naturally. In a particular terrain, I might push the handle far forward to build up a mound in front of it. By this … Read more
Like our mushy C-cut example above, even here you will see there are different styles. Sometimes the terrain is so mushy you can practically just gloop your tree plug into the ground without a shovel. [I was once on such a contract and it was great fun. I was planting the piece together with two … Read more
I actually remember one greener newbie who made holes not far from this size. Amazing to watch how much time he spent planting each tree, occasionally taking a break to wipe his brow, blow his nose and continue. He lasted about a week. Once you have your blade deep enough in the ground you want … Read more
In this case the depth of your shovel blade would have to sink to below the top “duff”, which is anything above the soil that cannot hold moisture. This may seem more obvious than it is, but with the great variety of terrain you will come across, you will find there are definitely many ways … Read more
Eventually you will realise that your shovel can be more useful than just carving a slice into the earth. For example, sometimes I may spin it around and use the D-handle to pack down the soil around the plug in hard-to-get-to spots. Another frequent use is to prod with it. Especially if you are in rocky … Read more
Now that you have an idea roughly where you want to plant your next tree, you want to get there with the most efficient movement. For this I like to imagine myself like a native American/First Nations Person who glides and slithers through the brush with the least amount of resistance or confrontation. A rookie, in … Read more
Planting your tree all begins as soon as you finish planting your last one, since this is often the best time to start planning your next spot and how to get there. Usually while you are putting your tree into the ground, or as you rise up to depart to your next spot. Usually you … Read more
You would think that tree planting mostly depends on brute force, but more of it depends on efficiency of movement, and the right drive. I’ve seen small-framed girls planting double or more the quantity of hard working and muscular males. I have planted for seven summers, two of them eight months long, and have usually found myself … Read more
I couldn’t find much on the internet, but I believe treeplanting started or matured the fastest in New Zealand, where they would have run out of trees much earlier than in larger countries. For many years in Canada, and apparently still the practice in the US, trees were planted in unison by a row of … Read more