how to plant a tree

1. Dig the hole as deep as the rootball and twice as wide.
2. Check to see if the soil around the hole is too hard - if it is, loosen it up a bit with the shovel.
3. Remove the container from the rootball. (The roots are like the tree's blood vessels and they work best if they are not all twisted and knotted up, so you might need to straighten them out if they are circling around after having grown in the container.)
4. Place the tree in the hole, making sure the soil is at the same level on the tree as when the tree grew in the garden center. If your tree has burlap around the rootball, place the tree in the hole and then carefully untie the burlap. Leave the burlap lying in the bottom of the hole (this is okay - the burlap will simply turn into organic matter over a period of time).
5. Fill in around the rootball with soil and pack the soil with your hands and feet to make sure that there are no air pockets.
6. Make a little dam around the base of the tree as wide as the hole with left over soil or grass clumps to hold in the water.
7. Give your new tree a good soaking of water to help settle it into its new home.

URL: http://www.kidsface.org/pages/plant.html