HOW TO PREPARE THE SOIL BEFORE PLANTING

Most plants lost in the first year are not lost because of the species, or the watering, or the cold. They are lost because of how the hole was dug. And that is the dullest part, the one done in a hurry.

First: get to know your soil

Two tests, two minutes, a lot of trouble saved.

The handful test. Take slightly moist soil and squeeze. If it falls apart as soon as you open your hand, it is sandy: it drains fast and holds little. If it stays as a compact, sticky ball, it is clay: it holds water and waterlogs. If it holds together but breaks when you touch it, congratulations.

The drainage test. Dig a hole a hand deep, fill it with water and let it empty. Fill it again and watch the clock. If it takes more than four hours to empty, you have a drainage problem and it needs solving before you plant anything that is not a waterside species.

The hole: wide, not deep

The rule is simple: three times as wide as the root ball, and exactly as deep.

Wide, because new roots grow sideways and what stops them is compacted soil. And no deeper, because loosened soil at the bottom settles over time, the plant sinks with it and ends up buried at the collar.

If your soil is clay, score the sides of the hole with the spade. A smooth hole in clay behaves like a pot: water goes in and does not come out.

Organic matter yes, fertiliser no

Mix 20 to 30 % well-rotted compost or manure into the soil you removed. No more. If you fill the hole with pure potting mix you create a pocket so soft that the roots never want to leave it.

Never put mineral fertiliser in the hole. It burns the new roots, which are exactly the ones you need working. Fertiliser goes on in spring, spread on top, watered in afterwards.

The collar, level with the ground

The point where the trunk flares out into roots must sit flush with the soil. Not a finger lower.

It is the most common mistake and the slowest to show: the plant takes two or three years to die, and by then nobody connects the two things. Set the root ball in the hole and check with the spade handle resting on the ground.

Basin and mulch

Build a basin, a small rim of soil around the plant, so that irrigation water stays where it should instead of running off.

And cover with mulch: bark, straw, shredded prunings. Five centimetres, not touching the trunk. It keeps the moisture in, stops the soil compacting under the rain and saves half the watering in the first summer.

The first watering

Water generously right after planting, even if the soil is moist and even if rain is coming. That watering is not about water: it is about settling the soil against the roots and closing the air pockets. Without it, roots in contact with air dry out.