BEING CRABBY

 A new tree at Angel Crest Manor....a Centurion Crabapple, grown by Monrovia in Azusa, CA.

 First you have to dig a hole. Our soil is called "gumbo" if you're from the Midwest, "adobe" if you come from California...but in the Rogue Valley, it's called "expanding clay." It is so sticky that you have to use a putty knife to scrape it off of the shovel.

 Once you have a nice deep hole, you can add some packing peanuts to help with drainage. Yes, it really works!

 Then you add a lot of rotted, homemade mulch consisting of kitchen scraps and ground up leaves.

 And you fill and top off the new bed with some "Happy Frog" soil conditioner (old rotted redwood log deck).

 And don't forget to stake and tie the trunk so that the rootball will be stable when the wind blows the top of the tree.

And then you can pose with the tree, looking old, tired and scruffy in your old garden sweats.