[Arid_gardener] Handy tool

[Bill Woody]

This is to report a tool I have found highly useful for our plants and
trees.  This time of year some things need shading, such as young citrus
trees.  Shades require driving stakes into the ground, and if they are
positioned outside the watering basin the ground may be too hard to drive
wood stakes.  Several years ago I bought an auger bit, 1 1/16 inch diameter,
which chucks into a half-inch drill motor.  I can drill holes 10 to 12
inches deep in the hardest soil, then easily tap a 1x1 inch stake into each
hole.  A sturdy shade frame can quickly be erected in this way.
 
If you want to drive 2-inch lodgepoles to support trees, drilling a hole
first makes it much easier, even if it's only half the diameter of the pole.
It also helps constrain the pole to go into the soil at the angle you want,
which is sometimes hard to do without the pilot hole.
 
The bit also is useful for aerating soil and applying fertilizer deeply
around sickly trees.
 
Of course there is nothing magic about 1 1/16; I simply found that on Ebay
and saved money.  It was called a "ship's auger."  A one-inch or 15/16 bit
would work equally well.
 
Bill Woody
 
Note to Administrator or Editor:  Clearly this is not a question or plea for
help like most of the digest entries.  But I hope you will print it with or
without this note, since this has been so helpful to me.  Thank you.

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