No one is perfect in any thing and the only thing that makes some one perfect is experience and practice. Same is the case when you talk about growing a tree as there are so many mistakes people do during there first tree growing experience, which haunt them for years and I am of course one of them. I bet if there was an award for being the most immature person to ever attempt growing a tree, I would win!
I always envisioned so many ideas for a perfect place in my lawn which is least traveled area and that is a gap between my house and my fence of about 5 feet. Once I decided to provide a beautiful shade in that area so that my family could use it as a little picnic paradise........!
Finally I decided to start this little paradise with a nice apple tree. Of course there was a great risk involved of apples falling on our heads but still I carried on my plan. The romantic and poignant vision of sitting under the shade of apple tree attracted me a lot and I drove my self to nursery. I had no idea then about the healthy trees signs and I just spent the required amount of money and had the tree delivered right to my house.
I was so excited that I dig the hole right after the tree was delivered. I relaxed after finishing the job of planting the tree. I estimated that I could easily dig a hole in not more than one or two hours but I was wrong. Once you start digging the hole it progresses so slowly than you had expected. That process was so hectic that by the time I actually got the hole big enough to fit the ball of roots, I undoubtedly didn’t feel like digging another few feet around the perimeter as most tree planting guides propose. I was not able to lift the tree across the yard alone so I called my neighbor and with his help I succeeded in dropping the tree in that hole. Time of filling in the hole started then…!
I was so happy at my efforts and admired my self for long while looking at the perfectly planted tree. I was patting my back with full happiness when my 3 year old daughter came and said something that crushed my spirits. I still can’t forget the way she said “Daddy, that tree stands up like grandpa!” My father was a great man and most of you would be wondering why this statement of my daughter disappointed me. The reason is that my father’s back has been deteriorating lately and he is unable to stand up vertically straight. I shook my head and noticed closely the tree I had just planted and found out that my daughter comment was very much right.
Anyways, I did not care about that problem a lot and thought that tree would naturally outgrow its posture problem. I checked the tree every day to determine whether it had improved its posture or not but that never happened and my spirits kept on dropping. I was so badly disturbed that I started ignoring the tree. Of course, I could not remove the tree from my yard so I did what I thought was best, I started pushing it out of mind. I was so embarrassed on my efforts that I decided that I would pack up my luggage and flee the state if any problem ever came about from leaving the tree there.
Three years went by and I completely kept on ignoring that an apple tree ever existed in my garden when one day I heard a loud crash. I rushed out to see the problem and what I saw was un-imaginable. My tree had grown to such an un-manageable size that that it had taken out my gutter and part of my neighbor’s enclosure. That was of course unbearable and immensely embarrassing so I did exactly what I thought. Yes! I moved out of the state within few days.
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