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Article Archive

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Lawn and Garden: Planting is Easy.... When You Know How

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Full Sun or Shade: Groundcovers for Your Fall Planting List

Wetlands on the Rebound in the U.S.

Lawn and Garden: Perennial Borders: Easy Way to Add Character to Landscape

Lawn and Garden: Brilliant Color and Heady Fragrance Can Fill Your Garden

Lavender Brings Fragrant History To Your Garden

Lawn and Garden: Bring "Four Season"� Color To Your Garden

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Dramatic, Colorful Grasses Perk Up Any Landscape

So you've decided to plant a couple of trees in your landscape this weekend. What's the worst thing that could happen? An aching back? Blistered hands? Not even close!

How about swinging a pickaxe, hearing a clang and getting drenched with a geyser gushing from the water main you hit? Or maybe pulling back the lever on your rented Bobcat and realizing you've just ruptured a gas line or torn up a buried electrical cable?

It's safe to say that any of those could pretty much ruin your weekend. You would also earn the wrath of your neighbors whose utilities were cut off until crews could repair your damage, and it's likely you'd be responsible for the cost of repairs and possibly even open to legal consequences.

You might think that the hole you are digging for that new tree isn't deep enough to cause a problem, but that can be a dangerous assumption. For one thing, some utilities might be closer to the surface than you imagine.

Additionally, you have to remember that tree roots can go deep and wide as the tree matures, and planting over or close to underground utilities is like burying a green time bomb that can dislodge and break lines many years in the future.

Fortunately, this is a problem that has a very simple (and free) solution.

All you have to do – BEFORE you dig – is ca call a single 3-digit phone number: 811. When you call 811 from anywhere in the country, your call will be routed to your local One Call Center. Local One Call Center operators will ask you for the location of your digging job and route your call to affected utility companies. Your utility companies will then send a professional locator to your location to mark your lines within a few days.

Utility companies have offered this service for many years, but with so many companies with so many phone numbers spread across the country, there was a lot of confusion and misunderstanding. Hence the start of a national one-call service and a unique phone number, 811.

Some homeowners believe the 811 service is solely for contractors but that is incorrect. Utility companies are just as happy to mark their lines for your DIY projects as for professional excavation jobs.

I should add that, even if you hire professional contractors to build that new deck or fence on your property, don't assume they will call 811 before they begin work. I recommend that you ask the contractor if they have already done so, or you can simply call 811 yourself and tell your contractor that you've made the call.

Within a few days, you'll see some little colored flags or lines of colored paint criss-crossing your land, indicating what lies beneath. Here's what the colors indicate:

Red – Electric

Orange – Communications, Telephone/CATV

Blue – Potable Water

Green – Sewer/Drainage

Yellow – Gas/Petroleum Pipe Line

Purple – Reclaimed Water

White – Premark site of intended excavation

As you can see, white paint or flags are used to indicate where you or your contractors are planning to dig. It's a very good idea to mark the dig location before the utility locator teams come out. But be sure you use only WHITE markers to avoid any confusion!

While the marker teams are looking down, you should take a few moments to look up. Overhead power and telephone lines are so much part of our lives that they almost become invisible to us.

But a tree planted under or close to an overhead power line can be a major problem. Before you plant a tree anywhere near overhead lines, double-check the possible mature height and canopy spread, and if necessary err on the side of caution and plant it a little further away.

Special thanks to Alecia White, representing The Common Ground Alliance, for reminding us that more than 256,000 underground utility lines are struck each year in the U.S. If you'd rather not be part of that statistic, simply call 811 so you'll know what's below before you dig.

The Plant Man is here to help. Send your questions about trees, shrubs and landscaping to steve@landsteward.org and for resources and additional information, or to subscribe to Steve’s free e-mailed newsletter, visit www.landsteward.org