How To Plant Trees

Trees Add Value To Your Home

Each Spring we try to plant some trees around our home in order to improve the curb appeal and to add value to our home. According to the Arbor Day Foundation trees can increase the value of your home as much as 15%. In addition to the increased value of your home trees also help reduce heating and cooling costs. They also provide food and habitat for small animals and birds.

Buy Trees At Home Depot

This spring, The Home Depot is helping you prepare for the season with new and affordable products, informative workshops and inspiring do-it-yourself project ideas. One of the great DIY projects that everyone in your family can help with is planting trees. The fine folks at The Home Depot donated some trees to our family this year so we could share some tips and advice on how to plant trees.

We typically buy our trees at The Home Depot for several reasons. The prices are excellent, the selection always has plenty to choose from and lastly they offer a 1 year warranty on the trees. For this project we bought 2 large (3-inch diameter) flowering Cherry trees and 3 small (1-inch diameter) flowering Dogwood trees. The total cost of these 5 trees was $160 which I think is a very good price compared to similar trees purchased from a nursery.

Home Depot Garden Club

The Home Depot Garden Club is free online source for expert gardening advice, exclusive savings, regional tips and a community of gardeners. For instance, say you want to learn how to plant trees, then the Garden Club has some great tips and advice about how to plant a tree. So if you enjoy gardening like we do then I really recommend you check the Garden Club out.

How To Plant A Tree

Planting trees is actually a very easy DIY project that anyone can do. Planting a tree only requires a few simple steps.

Choose a suitable location for your trees. Be sure the trees are not too close to driveways, walkways and structures. Be sure to read the label on the tree to understand how large the tree will grow to at maturity.
Dig the hole for the tree. You’ll need to dig a hole that’s twice as wide as the root ball and slightly deeper. It’s really important that you dig the whole this large so the roots have a chance to get established well.
Next I like to add some good loam and compost to the bottom of the hole (6 inches is more than enough).
Carefully place the root ball into the hole and rotate the tree so that the best side is facing the direction you want.
Remove the root ball container (burlap or plastic). Be sure that you don’t damage the roots.
Now fill the hole around the root ball with lots of water.
Pack loam around the root ball to completely fill the hole, be sure to pack the soil and check that the tree is plumb as you work.
Finally install a nice layer of mulch around the tree to prevent weeds and help hold in moisture.

Special thanks to my 4 yr old son and my father-in-law for the cheap labor digging lots of big holes! Also a huge thanks to The Home Depot for sponsoring this project.

Todd Fratzel

I'm full time builder for a large construction company in New Hampshire. I run their design-build division that specializes in custom homes, commercial design-build projects and sub-divisions. I'm also a licensed civil and structural engineer with extensive experience in civil and structural design and home construction. My hope is that I can share my experience in the home construction, home improvement and home renovation profession with other builders and home owners. I'm also the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tool Box Buzz. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or you'd like to inquire about advertising on this site.

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View Comments

Coupons says:
May 15, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Great post, very informative! Planting trees is more difficult than you might think, especially when you've never done it before.
Paul says:
May 16, 2009 at 7:23 am
One other thing to remember, don't plant the tree too deep. There is a flare at the base of every tree where the roots meet the tree trunk. That needs to be above ground. If the root flare is planted below ground level, the tree will rot at that point and fall over, usually after its been growing for about 10 years or so.
Often you will see trees from the nursery that are too deep in the pot. You can't plant a tree to shallow, but it is very easy to plant one too deep.
Henok says:
June 15, 2010 at 5:34 am
It is a great work. But some times it may be difficult to get compost for planting. Therefore, I suggest that it is also possible to churn the excavated soil. That is, keeping the upper soil to lower layer and the deep soils to upper part. 'Trees means water, water means bread and the bread is life' So, let us plant a tree in order to fight against hunger.
Thanks