For weeks now, I’ve had some willow branches in water to let them root. They turned out really well. I wanted the roots to be ready for when the rains came so I could plant the saplings.
The other afternoon, I took the small cup of saplings out and began planting them. Dane was helping. I would dig the hole and drop a treelet in, then he would cover them up.
The cup held over fifty saplings. When we had over a dozen planted, the neighbor’s pigs entered the yard. I left Dane so I could give chase, but when I returned, Dane and the cup of willow trees were gone.
I finished planting the last couple trees that I’d started before the pigs entered, then called for Dane to bring me another. He returned without the trees.
We looked high and low. Steph came out and helped look. The girls came out and helped look. Nowhere could we find the saplings. Somewhere around here there are a few dozen little willow trees ready to be planted. If you see them, let us know.
With all those saplings missing, I decided to start a new batch. I have some large treelets in a bucket that are ready to plant now, but I’d like many more. I want to have quite a few started this rainy season because I don’t know how many will survive.
Dane, Shawn, and I went down the field to a nice willow. I climbed the tree and cut out some center branches. We hauled them back to the house and separated them into small pieces, medium pieces, and large.
Now they are in water and will work on rooting. I expect these will be ready to plant in about a month.
I have the one bucket of branches to plant this coming week. The saplings we did plant last week are still alive and growing. I’m looking forward to seeing how the project turns out.
Juan David 