Hit a big number I never expected: 200 oak trees planted in one season

I've been running my own landscaping business for about 5 years now, mostly focusing on smaller stuff like pruning and removals. Last spring I took on a contract for a new housing development outside of town. They wanted oaks planted along every street and in the green spaces. I figured it would be maybe 50 or 60 trees tops. By the end of the season I had personally planted 200 oak trees. That number shocked me. It was a lot of digging in clay soil and hauling burlap balls. The thing that made it work was having a good planting crew and a plan for spacing them out so I didn't burn out. Has anyone else surprised themselves with a big season like that? What kind of tree count did you hit?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_rose7d ago

Holy crap, 200 oaks in one season? That is a serious amount of work, especially in clay. I've dug enough holes in my own yard to know that clay is a total beast when it's dry and a muddy mess when it's wet. You must have been absolutely wrecked by the end of every day, hauling those giant root balls around. Mad respect for sticking with it, that takes some serious grit. It's wild how a job can just balloon on you like that. You plan for a few dozen trees and next thing you know you're on number 150 and your back is screaming. I bet it was satisfying to look back at that finished development and see all those trees knowing you put every single one in the ground yourself. That's a hell of a monument to your own hard work.

nora_campbell667d ago

@the_rose totally right about clay sucking both ways, I used a pickaxe for the first few holes and that saved my hands.