Happy Earth Day, 2011 – Plant a Tree!

Japanese Red Maple from Spring Hill NurseryHappy Earth Day, fellow gardeners! In case you didn’t know, today, April 22, is Earth Day 2011. It’s a day when people take a step back and reflect upon nature, our environment, and what we can do to preserve it. At Spring Hill Nurseries, it’s not only our business to care about nature, it’s our passion. I’m sure many of you are passionate about nature, as well. Whether you enjoy gardening on a cool spring day, or volunteering for a local environmental organization, you’re doing your part to help our planet.

In celebration of Earth Day 2011, we thought it would be a good idea to present a little instructional video on how to plant a tree or small shrub. You can, of course, buy trees and small shrubs at SpringHillNursery.com.

The great thing about planting trees in early spring is that the soil is warming up, but the air is still cool. This means your plants can thrive and have enough time to establish before summer without having to worry about being burned by the heat.

When you’re preparing a hole for your new tree or shrub, make the hole about two or three times wider then the root ball, don’t make it any deeper than the plant was in its previous soil. Also, try and use as much of the original soil as possible, as this is what the plant is used to and it will have a better chance of thriving. Place your root ball into the soil, and leave about a third of the root ball higher than the surrounding soil level. Then just taper up the soil to cover the roots. Water your plant but don’t soak it. Mulch the plant with about 3 inches of organic matter, as this will help moderate the soil temperature.

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