What are the basic components a tree needs to be healthy? My son was asked this in first grade last year for Arbor Day, which made me go back to the fundamentals. In general, plants need sunlight, air, water and nutrients. So, we know that nearly two-thirds of what trees need comes from the soil […]

OK, but why soil? Take a minute to picture a tree. Maybe even grab a pen right now and draw one out in the margin – I’ll wait. Some things you might note are the canopy shape, leaf-on or leaf-off, flowers or fruit and branching structure. Did you include the root system in your picture? […]