We purchased three Ginkgo Biloba trees (small trees in pots) about for or five years ago. We have kept them in pots until we found a place we wanted to plant them. We found the place.
Our property is about 300 feet wide and 1,200 feet deep. It's not a pure rectangle but close. It slopes down hill from the front of the property (on the paved county road) to the back. At the very back of the property is a creek. After the creek the property goes up hill quickly.
So, water sort of drains from the front of the property to the rear.
There is what appears to be a terraced area about half way back (where the workshop and observatory are). There is an open spot in front the observatory and there are two oak trees growing there.
We decided that the there was enough open space to plant the three Ginkgos.
I dug three holes to transplant the trees. The ground on top is sort of ok soil but, dig down a foot or so and it's packed clay. Hard to dig and harder for water to go through. Two of the three holes were partially filled with water the day after they were dug. The last time it rained was this past Wednesday. I dug the holes Saturday.
It was decided that what had to be done was to try and remove the water that was puddling there to allow the trees a chance to grow. The oaks are doing fine at the same elevation.
The only way to remove the water was to dig a trench, uphill from the trees, hoping that it would take some of the downslope runoff and help the trees not be "water" logged.
So, here is a picture (not the best) of the trench. Not the best picture but I guess I was in a hurry.
I guess the trench stretches some 50 to 75 feet (did not measure). It appears to be about 10" deep.
The tool I used to dig the trench
It's attached to the back of my Massey Ferguson 1250 tractor.
Now that is not the device I wished to use. I have another one that, I think, would have done a better but I cannot get it to attache properly to the tractor to make it functional.
Here is that tool (and if anyone knows how I might get this attached to my MF 1250 three point hitch to allow it to work, please let me know).
This is the only way I can attach it to the MF1250 three point hitch and it cannot be raised clear of the ground. And it cannot be lowered to use.
The area circled in red is the culprit. I could replace it with the "telescoping tube" I use for all other connections but the arrangement of the connection to the "plow" is not doable.
Anyway, tomorrow I will finish looking at the ditch and cleaning it out and get some plastic pipe to place in the trench to collect the water.
The pipe will be covered with a "silt" cloth.
If I could get the other plow connected, I could get the ditch a few inches deeper. That would be nice.
Oh, the reason we picked the Ginkgo's was because they were the favorite tree of my Forestry Professor at Clemson University in the mid sixties, Dr. Lehotsky. Dr. Lehotsky said they were great trees and have been around for over 200 million years.
