In 2021, we decided we’d like to have trees in the field in front of our house. I love trees. We ordered a passel of pine trees. Before the trees arrived, we carefully marked each row and the planned position of each tree with a flag. We know passersby were curious because vehicles suddenly slowed down as they drove past our house. In their defense, it did look like some kind of construction was about to happen.
We planted our trees in the perfectly straight rows, and all the trees in all the rows were perfectly aligned, except for one afternoon when I was tired and misread the numbers on the tape measure. There still are two trees in one row that are 6 feet apart, not 8. The trees in the background are the older trees we planted in 2021.
The trees we planted in 2022 suffered from the extended drought of several months, and we lost almost all of them.
The trees we planted in 2023 underwent almost three weeks of a hard freeze. The older trees survived, but only a few of the newly planted trees did.
In 2024, annoying Life Events slammed us shortly before the trees were delivered and interfered with our planting time. We diverted from our original plan to replace the trees in the rows we’d already planted before we continued with new rows. Instead, we adjusted our plan and just planted the new rows.
This year, we started by filling in the older rows with new trees. See the piles of pine straw? You might have to squint. New trees are snuggled in the middle of each one. We think if we plant an hour or two every morning and again every afternoon, we’ll finish up in a week with trees planted eight feet apart in the rows we prepared for this year.
Some people say watching grass grow is dull. Maybe they should watch trees grow instead.
I love trees.
Judith A. Barrett - Author 