Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Root washing

Isaac learned how to bare-root a tree tonight.  He was very into it.  My four year old is learning how to create bonsai, how cool is that?  
I've been growing these privets behind my garage for several years since I found them as seedlings under an arbor where I assume birds deposited the seeds after having eaten the berries.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, so I planted them in an empty bed to grow until I decided whether to use them in a hedge or create a bonsai.  They are about 4 feet tall and 1/2 - 3/4" thick.  I want to use the bed for vegetable gardening now, so they need to go.  I decided to try to twist some or all of them together to form a fused trunk tree.  I imagine it looking something like this...

Or more likely this...
...depending on how flexible the trunks are when I try to twist them, and how securely I'm able to fasten them together.  I expect it to take 2-3 years before the trunks become fully fused together.  I'll post more details about how I do it with pictures hopefully later this week.  It's been a challenge getting anything done in the yard over the last week because of the rain.  I have post holes sitting full of water waiting to dry out so I can set the posts for a deer fence.