Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott for November 03, 2023

When all else fails, read the instructions.

Next comic’s probably going to be “remove sack from root ball”, leading him to lift the now-soggy thing out of the hole again. And then the comic after that will be him lying on the couch moaning while nursing a heating pad or ice pack.

It’s autumn and he’s planting a tree with green leaves. It grew leaves just in time to lose them.

How can Darryl not have learned by now to read and understand all the instructions before beginning the task? Oh! I forgot. Comic strip! :-)

He made the hole big enough that he could fill the rest of the hole with water, wouldn’t that work? I haven’t planted any trees lately so maybe it wouldn’t but still!

This isn’t gonna go well.

I planted a tree as that and learned the hard way to remove the cloth from the root ball, after I planted it a wind blew it over as the canvas or whatever never rotted away!

Darryl the dummy should be the name of this comic. That’s how he’s always portrayed. Better get his genius wife to come and do it right, and and then she disrespect him some more.

At this point? The hole is getting BACKfilled with water…

Sad commentary on the lousy shape the typical male is now days.I’m 71 yrs and planted 10 trees on my property this summer no ache no pain and no gasping.

Planted tens of thousands of trees. I don’t fill the hole with water, I tamp down the soil in thin layers to remove air pockets. After planting, then I water throughly and step down on the wet soil. Very high success rate over the years.

“First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shalt be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.” Sometimes I love the internet.

I think in this case (adding water) could be done now. It’s water, it flows around things. Plus… it would all drain out before you got the tree situated anyway. Whenever my wife and I planted trees, she would put in some fertilizer before dropping the tree. That way it would be down by the roots. I’m fairly certain that we also cut the surrounding twine from the root ball. Maybe the burlap also? My wife told me what to do and I just did it. Pretty much like everyday life.

Fill the hole with water? Nope.

He will have to haul it out again to take the burlap off. Then it would be heavier because of the water it absorbed. But as cmxx said how come Daryl didn’t read the instructions thoroughly first?

Heaven forbid. I hate to think what will happen if he puts water in the hole with the tree already in the hole.

Two 5-gallon buckets of water will be fine. Just pour around the sides and wait for it to sink in a little at a time.

Even in a comic strip, sometimes Darryl’s ineptness is tedious.

Please, everyone! Darryl is simply using ERRRRGH-onomics !!! … :)

Wait until he fills it with water, dumps the tree in, and then gets to the step about removing the burlap, so now has to remove a sopping wet rootball from the hole…..

Just turn the hose on and let it soak the root ball and the hole will fill up.

What about “Remove the burlap wrapping around the roots and spread the roots out before placing in hole” ?

No. No need to water. It is autumn, soon winter. Remember to water next year though!

And, remove the sack… I thought it was that Zoe would read… And, why lift, drag it! Also, I doubt it is so heavy as the comic depicts…

This task needs more Hammie.

Darryl, really, have you NEVER planted anything before?? ;D

Read the instructions????

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!!

I Don’t Need To Read No Stinking Instructions.

I don’t remember ever filling a hole with water before planting a tree. But the trees survived anyway.

Not helping Zoe.

All that work while grass will grow in a crack in concrete…

Daryl, lift with your nose, not your legs.

Do not fill the hole with water beforehand. Do NOT remove the burlap! Never remove the burlap! If you do, the dirt ball will likely fall apart exposing the roots to the air which can be bad for the tree though it could still survive. It is possible to transplant bare-rooted trees but your success rate is generally much lower. Dig a hole somewhat bigger than the dirt ball and use your spade to work/pack dirt around the tree. Then water.

The “before …” timing was stolen from an episode of Dom DeLuise’s mid-70’s “Lotsa Luck!” sitcom.

SMH (/_<)