Water
In the beginning, there were buckets. And a cedar pole. I actually did this to plant a dozen trees the first fall. As you can see, I look as happy as people do in the before shots of diet commercials, and about as comfortable. It took about 40 pails to give the trees a good start.
As it turns out, I was told it would have been a lot easier if I'd hung lengths of rope and hooks off the sides so I didn't have to haul the 60-70 pounds of water ( between 4-5 gallons each at 8 lbs to the gallon) all the way up to shoulder height. With over 100 trees arriving in the spring, I realized that even this quantum leap wouldn't be enough.
With the coming of winter, I began thinking things over...
and planning. Here is an irrigation map of the grove. It shows the entire drip system as well as locations for soil sampling.
