Planting ahead for Christmas!

In a Facebook status update on Wednesday, I mentioned that we were planting baby Christmas trees. An interesting conversation ensued and so, I thought it would be fun to give a more complete explanation - complete with visual props. On Thursday, St.Patrick's Day, the normal day for planting potatoes and onions, we were planting more trees and Tina & I took some pictures and a little video of the process.

Bob orders the plants and they arrive, bare root, in boxes bound in ten plant bundles.

We count enough for a row and cut the cord that binds the bundles.
We pack them on the red shelf of the planter. This is the planter. I sit on the seat that you see in the lower left of the picture. The two metal parts that are to the right of the seat form wat we call the "shoe." It plows through the earth and I put the plants in the front of the shoe and hold on to them until the earth fills in behind them.
This is our fancy "measuring device" that trails behind the planter. When the roll of duct tape gets to the last plant planted, it's time to stick the next plant in.
For this job, I wear a "very attractive" outfit. I tuck my jeans into my socks to try to keep the dirt out of my shoes and socks. We call this picture "jazz hands" because I'm showing off the pair of Bob's gloves that I am wearing.
Bob drives the loaded tractor up to the field and checks to make sure the rows will be right.
I climb on board and we are off.
Tina took this lovely movie of us in action and she enjoyed making some commentary.


The final result is rows of these:
In 5-7 years, this tree will be a beautiful Douglas Fir Christmas tree!