Planting the Ein Shemer apple

Well, I finally found the time over the last two days to get the Ein Shemer planted; it took around five hours, start to finish.

I screen the soil to remove any roots and rocks using a homemade screen consisting of a 2" x 4" frame with braces on the corners and 1/4" wire fabric attached to the frame using chicken wire staples.  The wire fabric has to be replaced from time to time as it tears from the abuse I put it through.  As you can see, the frame is sized to fit onto my garden wagon which has a tilt bed for easy emptying.

As I dig the bed, the soil gets placed in the screen and then the clumps are broken apart, rocks and roots removed and the remaining soil is pushed through the screen, creating a loose, light soil that is easy to mix compost into.

The screened soil is dumped onto a tarp until the tree well is ready to be refilled.

Once the tree well is the proper depth, about a shovel blade deep, the tree is situated in the middle and a secondary hole is dug to get the tree to the proper depth.  Then weed block fabric is laid loosely in the bottom of the well.

Tree well is partially filled to anchor the weed block in place, then plastic border is pegged in place.

The well is filled with more soil, then ten gallons of compost is added and mixed into the soil.

The soil mixture was leveled, irises were planted and the soil was thoroughly soaked to remove air pockets. The excess weed block fabric was trimmed to just at or below ground level; the outside edges of the well will be filled in with some of the excess soil to remove the gaps.  Once the soil has settled for a few days, additional soil will be added if needed.

Here's the Ein Shemer in its' new home.  I planted about 20 irises (the ones I got free from Craigslist) and there's enough room in the bed so that I shouldn't have to thin them for several years.  I can't wait for spring to see what color(s) they are.