It is June 14th 2021 and it hasn’t rained in two weeks. On top of that we have had many days in the 90’s. This spring I planted 112 trees and shrubs. Of those 58 were planted in tree bags in our garden/nursery. Last year I planted about 44 new trees. I have found over the years of planting trees that the first two years need to be adequately watered. In fact the old timers at St. Lawrence Nursery have a very through guide to tree planting. Below is the page which discusses watering.

My setup for watering is two 16 gallon tanks which I fill and carry in the back of my Yamaha Viking side by side. That’s 32 gallons which weight 266 pounds of water. Below is a picture of the tanks being filled.

Once I get the Viking down to the woods by the trees to be watered I fill up a 5 gallon bucket and take that to water the trees. Below is a picture of the bucket filling.

Just a few thoughts and memories about droughts. I remember the drought of 1976/77. In fact sometime back then I first planted trees. On my Grandma Schroeder’s farm there was pasture land which wasn’t being grazed anymore. So I collected walnuts from the woods in Kenyon we lived by and dug them into the pasture. Because of the drought none of the walnut seeds grew.

I have been keeping notes on my tree activities for about the last 10 years. We have had a few dry spells, but no drought conditions like we have now. So I will keep watering everyday and hope for future rainfall.