matt770 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Front yard is freakin' hughmongous and nothing but grass which I don't feel like mowing every week for the next 50 years, so I bought a bunch of trees to plant - Japanese maple and cherry to go along the driveway, 2 red sunset maples and a red oak closer to the house for shade, and a grouping of pines and cypresses to go near the street, as a screen and to decorate with Christmas lights. Ten trees in all. Down here the soil is heavy clay and difficult to dig, so I rented a tiller. Jeebus man...I planted my share of trees when I lived here back in the day and it was a pain, but nothing like this. The soil obviously hasn't been worked in many years, probably never aerated. Even with the tiller and going at each hole for a good 30 minutes, I managed to get down about 4 inches. I take the pick to it, and I get tiny chunks out even swinging with all my might. I managed to plant 2 of the 10 trees on Saturday and I'm sore as hell. Even with those I cheated...used a whole yard of good topsoil that I intended to use just to amend the 10 holes. F'n ground is slightly softer than concrete. It will take me all week to plant the rest of these bastards. Had plans to widen some beds and prepare a vegetable garden for next year too, and at this rate it's going to take a lot more time and effort than I anticipated. It will be worth it, but damn... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 C'mon dude, put yer back into it! In '07, we planted about 10 trees in soil that sounds a lot like yours. It sucked. What was worse, we were in the middle of a massive, massive drought (our city was literally on countdown of how many more days of water we'd have if it didn't rain and that number got to around 30 before it finally did rain). At any rate, the drought didn't allow me to do what you should do. Dig the holes the best you can, a few inches deep, and then fill them with water and let it soak in. The clay should come up much better. Dig a few more inches and repeat if you have to. Another thing I learned planting trees in this nasty clay: Resist temptation to quit digging and half-ass the hole. Your trees will end up stunted and lame. We put in a fig the first year we moved in and I didn't make the hole big enough. I didn't do jack until I dug it up, and dug a massive hole. Then fill the hole back with tons of compost, hay, fish emulsion, seaweed and just enough of your native dirt so that the plant knows where it is. You want to make it as cush and nice as you can and it will go gang-busters. If you just put the same clay back into the hole, it will just take a few good rains and then a few dry weeks to turn it into the same concrete you're trying to dig up right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 C'mon dude, put yer back into it! In '07, we planted about 10 trees in soil that sounds a lot like yours. It sucked. What was worse, we were in the middle of a massive, massive drought (our city was literally on countdown of how many more days of water we'd have if it didn't rain and that number got to around 30 before it finally did rain). At any rate, the drought didn't allow me to do what you should do. Dig the holes the best you can, a few inches deep, and then fill them with water and let it soak in. The clay should come up much better. Dig a few more inches and repeat if you have to. Another thing I learned planting trees in this nasty clay: Resist temptation to quit digging and half-ass the hole. Your trees will end up stunted and lame. We put in a fig the first year we moved in and I didn't make the hole big enough. I didn't do jack until I dug it up, and dug a massive hole. Then fill the hole back with tons of compost, hay, fish emulsion, seaweed and just enough of your native dirt so that the plant knows where it is. You want to make it as cush and nice as you can and it will go gang-busters. If you just put the same clay back into the hole, it will just take a few good rains and then a few dry weeks to turn it into the same concrete you're trying to dig up right now. Yep, normally I like a 50/50 amendment, and I spray painted 8-foot circles with the intention of tilling the entire area down at least a 18 inches. Instead I'll be planting them in raised beds of oh, 90% soil/compost mix from the dirt place. I'm still going to try to dig up as much of that clay as I can with the pick and this rain should help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 C'mon dude, put yer back into it! In '07, we planted about 10 trees in soil that sounds a lot like yours. It sucked. What was worse, we were in the middle of a massive, massive drought (our city was literally on countdown of how many more days of water we'd have if it didn't rain and that number got to around 30 before it finally did rain). At any rate, the drought didn't allow me to do what you should do. Dig the holes the best you can, a few inches deep, and then fill them with water and let it soak in. The clay should come up much better. Dig a few more inches and repeat if you have to. Another thing I learned planting trees in this nasty clay: Resist temptation to quit digging and half-ass the hole. Your trees will end up stunted and lame. We put in a fig the first year we moved in and I didn't make the hole big enough. I didn't do jack until I dug it up, and dug a massive hole. Then fill the hole back with tons of compost, hay, fish emulsion, seaweed and just enough of your native dirt so that the plant knows where it is. You want to make it as cush and nice as you can and it will go gang-busters. If you just put the same clay back into the hole, it will just take a few good rains and then a few dry weeks to turn it into the same concrete you're trying to dig up right now. Filling the hole with water is key, thanks. Six trees left to go now, and the monsoon has arrived. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Filling the hole with water is key, thanks. Six trees left to go now, and the monsoon has arrived. Oh, no, the ground, it so hard, it hurt my little hands trying to dig a hole. Ferry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Oh, no, the ground, it so hard, it hurt my little hands trying to dig a hole. Ferry. I remember when i was working for a large landscaping company in the late 80's and i had to use a jack hammer to punch thru tar to plant some trees. they died about a month later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 Oh, no, the ground, it so hard, it hurt my little hands trying to dig a hole. Ferry. And I forgot about the septic system in our front yard, so I need to replan everything. If you have a free moment to pop over and beat some sense into me, that would be really helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CowboyGal2011 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Oh, no, the ground, it so hard, it hurt my little hands trying to dig a hole. +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 (edited) I'll have to come clean on this one for Matt. A few years back I was putting up a small fence in the front yard of my house in Marietta. I grabbed the post hole diggers (a tool I hadn't used in probabaly 15 years since the last time my dad made me put a fence up at their house) and started out for the front yard. Took those puppies and slung them down in the ground, about two inches. Threw them in again, another ich or two. Again, again, again, again... I was about 18 inches into the first hole , could feel the blisters starting to form... I stopped, I had another 18 inches to go in that hole and 10 more just like it. Took the post hole diggers, put them up, got in the truck and drove to the equipment rental place and got an auger. An hour and a half later all the fence posts were in. Moral of this story, don't use post hole diggers in ATL. Edited October 10, 2011 by SEC=UGA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seahawks21 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 (edited) Thank goodness for Seattle soil! I was able to dig 16,000 holes during my days off last week (auger's can be fun!). Bought XMas tree saplings at 12 cents each. If I do the work myself, each tree costs under $1 and should sell for $60-80 in 6-8 years. I couldn't imagine planting trees without an auger, especially in that cement y'all have there. We're trying to figure out what to do with my mom's property as well. She has a huge lawn, and she has no interest in maintaining it, and I now live too far away and have too much going on to spend one of my day's off doing her yardwork all spring and summer. I'm pulling for installing as much concrete as we can. I want to expand the driveway, and maybe make some sort of brick walkway to a gazebo and jacuzzi surrounded by a big slab of concrete that we will refer to as the party area. I wish she would let me concrete the whole freakin' thing. Edited October 10, 2011 by Seahawks21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 +1 Speaking of seepage... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Speaking of seepage... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chester Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Front yard is freakin' hughmongous and nothing but grass which I don't feel like mowing every week for the next 50 years, so I bought a bunch of trees to plant Now you'll be raking like heck for the next 50 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt770 Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 I'll have to come clean on this one for Matt. A few years back I was putting up a small fence in the front yard of my house in Marietta. I grabbed the post hole diggers (a tool I hadn't used in probabaly 15 years since the last time my dad made me put a fence up at their house) and started out for the front yard. Took those puppies and slung them down in the ground, about two inches. Threw them in again, another ich or two. Again, again, again, again... I was about 18 inches into the first hole , could feel the blisters starting to form... I stopped, I had another 18 inches to go in that hole and 10 more just like it. Took the post hole diggers, put them up, got in the truck and drove to the equipment rental place and got an auger. An hour and a half later all the fence posts were in. Moral of this story, don't use post hole diggers in ATL. At my old place I put in a fence by hand and it was a bitch. I also built raised beds and used nice big rocks that I picked from the quarry myself for the borders. My Tacoma practically scraped the pavement on the drives back home. Couple days of hauling boulders around will make you plenty sore, but I just relished it, the workout, the sense of accomplishment...then started getting numbness in my wrists when I would wake up the next day. Started sleeping with Ace carpal tunnel wrist braces and that alleviated the problem. Today started feeling it again out there, I'd swing the pick a certain way and get twinges up my forearms, like a numbness or pinched nerve. Hope it's not a progressive thing, because I've got projects lined up in my head from now through next fall. In some ways I am truly just out of my freaking mind when it comes to this crap, just completely obsessed. I've moved so many times and the idea that I may actually live here long enough to see a tree I planted grow to maturity... :pantstight: Initially that is what really made me fall in love with Atlanta -- the attention paid to landscaping here, both commercial and residential, is more than I've seen anywhere else. I'd drive around just staring at it. Then years later when I bought my first home my Polack farming genes kicked in. I'd be outside from dawn to dusk. If I could hit rewind I'd have horticulture and landscape architecture degrees and my own business in the field. Except now that I realized my oak and maples are 30 feet from my f*cking septic tank, and the holes I dug for my grove of evergreens most likely are in the septic field.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 At my old place I put in a fence by hand and it was a bitch. I also built raised beds and used nice big rocks that I picked from the quarry myself for the borders. My Tacoma practically scraped the pavement on the drives back home. Couple days of hauling boulders around will make you plenty sore, but I just relished it, the workout, the sense of accomplishment...then started getting numbness in my wrists when I would wake up the next day. Started sleeping with Ace carpal tunnel wrist braces and that alleviated the problem. Today started feeling it again out there, I'd swing the pick a certain way and get twinges up my forearms, like a numbness or pinched nerve. Hope it's not a progressive thing, because I've got projects lined up in my head from now through next fall. In some ways I am truly just out of my freaking mind when it comes to this crap, just completely obsessed. I've moved so many times and the idea that I may actually live here long enough to see a tree I planted grow to maturity... :pantstight: Initially that is what really made me fall in love with Atlanta -- the attention paid to landscaping here, both commercial and residential, is more than I've seen anywhere else. I'd drive around just staring at it. Then years later when I bought my first home my Polack farming genes kicked in. I'd be outside from dawn to dusk. If I could hit rewind I'd have horticulture and landscape architecture degrees and my own business in the field. Except now that I realized my oak and maples are 30 feet from my f*cking septic tank, and the holes I dug for my grove of evergreens most likely are in the septic field.... That's some crappy planning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowboutthemCowboys Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 (edited) Skid steer with an auger and I bet it's ALOT cheaper to rent than you think Edited October 10, 2011 by HowboutthemCowboys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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