How to fix planting hole ?

9 years ago

Last year I pulled out most of the front yard , and brought in 10 yards topsoil to augment front of house and create 2 new beds. The load had a lot more clay content than I would have liked....I don't think you can return truck loads.
Finally when it came to planting I was worried about the spot for the Lawson Blue surprise(let's forget about that one) so I added chipper shredder pile stuff and cedar chip mulch.....After pulling the dead plant out I mixed in vermiculite......MAN it's wet,lumpy now.Want to plant spruce.

So how to fix this spot? I'll dig it out ,fill it with maybe bags of menards top soil ,coarse sand,and a bag of small pine bark chips.
Or ,I could dig soil from where a 30 ft. Norway stood.
What say? ron

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Comments (3)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
yesterday.. or so.. we discussed growing things in pots.... your were on the right track ...

today.. you want to plant in mother earth ... but you still are thinking in terms of mother earth being a big pot ...

see link ... especially in regard to amending a planting hole ...

and also in regard to dealing with clay soil ...

begin your process by doing a perk test ... dig hole.. fill with water.. see how long it takes to drain ... lets discuss result ...

clay.. is not bad ... what is bad.. is a hole dug in clay.. that ends up.. basically being a pot with no drain holes ...

trees/conifers... as noted in regard to our pot discussion.. need drainage.. and air in the roots ... and there is no difference in the concept between a pot and mother earth ...

make any sense???

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
this is not prime planting season .... with the heat of summer coming on strong in a few weeks ...

if you are planting in full blistering sun ... if you can rig up some shade ... it might really increase your odds of success ...

if you completely disturb the root mass ... then you interfere with the plants ability to pump sufficient water.. and if its really freakin hot ... the plant will suffer...

if you have cool nights there would be a recovery period ... but in the heat of summer.. sometimes nights dont cool like they do in fall or spring ...

and the bigger the transplant.. the greater the stresses ...

the link above.. also spoke to PROPER watering ....

ken

ps: all lawsons died in my z5 ... sooner or later.. some lingered a few years .. before root rots got them ... and those were mild winters ...
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plantkiller_il_5
Original Author
9 years ago
Ken, good link, have read it before,have been doing that stuff for years.(ok so some times I make mistakes [so the stupid member name,but I can't change it ])
maybe you misunderstand......brought in dirt to raise in front of house,taking out old terracing,building new 3ft. retaining wall, about 6ft. from this spot.before filling I dug down 2ft.removed clay,put in cedar chips and lava rock,then leveled every thing off. there's a foot of soil over old ground level. Then I added that other crap to hole when planting.
perk test wouldn't tell much ,maybe 6ft. over ,where P.abies Pumilla is....it's doing fine.
But I gotta get the gumbo out before planting in fall.
Fill with simple dirt taken from spot where 30ft.norway stood.
ron
summer planting...proper watering.....future post..moving 18 ft. norway