This Tuesday, the Durham Academy 6th grade participated in a tree-planting event on Ross Road with the organization Keep Durham Beautiful. 

Keep Durham Beautiful is a nonprofit organization that works with the City of Durham and Durham County to help keep Durham beautiful and clean. Visit their website to learn more about them and how you can help keep Durham Beautiful.  https://keepdurhambeautiful.org/our-work

We planted trees at Ross Road, a place where people who get paid a low amount of money can afford housing and still live a nice life. We planted trees to make the space nicer and provide shade for the people living there. 

We could each plant our own trees, and some people had to do two trees. The process took a while, but it made me feel accomplished and proud. Most of us did not realize what it was like to plant trees and what you had to do and I learned a lot that day. Some of the things I learned included

• You have to keep the mulch three inches away from the tree trunk 
• The width of the hole has to be two times the width of the bucket 
• other leaves can feel if another leaf is getting damaged 
• It takes 15-20 years for a tree to grow full-size 
• You want to loosen up the roots and dirt before you plant the tree

Overall I learned a lot and it was a great experience. Check out the Keep Durham Beautiful website to see what you can do to help Durham.