So today we have a big important task in front of us. But, let me elaborate first.
In the community garden, we're allowed to grow only annual plants, which means they complete their life cycle within a year. No, berries, shrubs, trees. Lots of people ignore this and merrily grow roses, berries, and sometimes even a small tree. However, trees when they grow, take up a lot of land, and cast a shadow, making it very inconvenient to garden. So they should be moved before they're too big to move.
I had a little peach tree grow all on its own in my garden plot, and it's the sweetest, most beautiful little tree, with one leader trunk and perfectly shaped branches. It grew about as tall as me, and I have to move it now. I asked the plant lady to help me transport it, and yesterday she was going to the garden anyway, so we dug out the little tree, put it in her car, and got it home.
I don't have any land of my own, but I noticed other people have been planting trees on a public land next to the river; and if they can do it, so can I. If my illegal sin is planting fruit trees, I will go down for that. I wanted to plant the tree right away, but it was already night time, so I stashed it in the basement for the night. I made sure it's roots were wet and wrapped in a bag so it couldn't dry out.
So today, it's an early frosty morning, and it's on me to find a way to carry this tree on my bike, get it to the riverbank, plant and water it.
It took some time, but I got the tree in a bag to sit on my bike, and I carried it all over the town like that. I thought I would get some funny looks, but apparently if you're hauling a tree, people just assume you know what you're about, and get out of your way. This is the place I picked for it!
It's very close to that tree that fell recently, and it sits well with me to plant it here. When planting a tree, it's important to make a big enough hole for roots to have plenty of space, and to not make it too circular, so the roots wouldn't start going in circles, and instead fought their way thru the soil. You also have to watch out not to plant it deeper than it originally grew; the trunk flare needs to be exposed to oxygen in order for the tree to stay healthy. It's also best to not prune it at all; the lower branches serve to make the trunk thicker, and we want a strong, resilient tree. Eventually later it could be pruned, but only to make sure the fruit is accessible, peach trees don't grow super tall here, so it shouldn't be necessary.
Normally you would also have to graft the tree, but here we have little yellow peaches, and the plant lady told me it would grow these little peaches even if not grafted; I'll get a chance to see if it's true!
I took with me a little container to bring in water from the river, I took the water from this magical place:
And also found some violets, for a snack!
Afterwards I went to find a big stick, because the tree needed to be straightened up a little, and since it's public property, the grass mowers would probably cut the tree if it's not protected and marked. I forgot to take any string with me, so I tied it with a piece of bark I found; I will replace it with a proper string later. I found a bunch of dry leaves I used as a mulch, so now my job here is done; I planted my first fruit tree!
My only fear is that someone will have a problem with this tree being here, a passing male asked me what this tree was, I said 'Peach' and he said 'Oh great' so I will take it as an indication that the people do understand that leaving the tree alone now, means we all get peaches in the future. This was a very fulfilling task, and hopefully there will be peaches, long after I'm gone. (as in, moved away to separatism, to plant fruit trees there.)