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- Measuring ~8′ radius. The hazelnut will eventually intersect with my neighbor’s lilac that hangs into our yard, but they agreed the lilac needs pruning in that area as it has damaged limbs. The hazelnut and the lilac will form a hedge and a home for wildlife, useful wood, food, and more.
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- Measuring and estimating if the overhead powerline is <20' up from the ground. Hazelnut has a mature height of 15-18'. The powerline appears to be a little bit under 20' (considering 4x height of the shovel as the threshold) so there should be enough room for the hazelnut. The existing trees that will be part of the hedge the hazelnut is in are in some cases already much higher than the hazelnut will ever be, and in any case the powerline should be tightened up..
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- Sizing up the planting hole, saving and ammending its soil by mixing in raised bed soil.
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- Don’t let the rootball sit in open air for too long, you want it to stay moist. Massaging the root mass to loosen up roots and if necessary prune away any potentially-strangling circled up roots.
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- I gently but firmly pack soil around the edges of the potted soil, and rough up the edges of the potted soil to merge it with the surrounding softer soil and then undisturbed soil.
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- Be mindful of the root collar, where the root side of the tree and bark differs from the aboveground portion. If anything leave a little of the root collar above ground, as it’s much riskier to bury it by accident, and the plant can settle lower into the soil over time but can’t easily rise up out of it.
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- Cardboard sheet mulch, to be covered and held down with actual mulch. Helping build soil, surpress weeds, retain moisture, slow the decomposition of the mulch above it to further trap carbon.
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- Mulch, trying not to cover the root collar (though rain can do that as it washes down the mulch pile).
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- Catkins grew this summer! They should be ready for pollination Spring 2019. We look forward to it 🙂
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- Fencing to protect from deers. We scored this roll for free!
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- Small post to help keep the fence up and away from the hazelnut. We’ll leave it on for a few years and eventually hope the tree will be resilient on its own against deer pressure.