Tag Archives: planting

Clay Soil – Problem or Blessing?

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We want to say it loud and clear if you think clay soil is a problem:

Clay soil is fertile soil that conserves moisture!

Clay soil is good soil, native European plants love it and so do many other trees.

Relatively few plants like really waterlogged soil.
Clay soil becomes waterlogged more easily than other soils and can collect water in certain places, like basins or low lying ground, but really in most places it’s fine to just plant into it.

When water sits in puddles for a long time after rain, one way to break surface water logging is to dig one or more soakaways or sumps.

These are a  lot of work, so it’s good that they do work.
Put them in first and use the soil that comes out to build ridges to plant into.
Clay is good for shaping into raised mounds.

In upland areas, clay soil’s ability to preserve moisture is a good thing – it works well with mulch fabric.

Transplanted hedging and trees survive best in clay soils – it’s plants on drier and sandier soils that need more watering in hot summer.

Long Term Years of Improving Clay Soil:
People who want to really improve the drainage in a plot of clay land each early winter will double dig it over with manure and lime, leaving big bare sods of clay on top, exposed to the frosts over the winter.
This can be covered in mid spring to dry off for digging with more manure and sowing with green manure fertiliser plants.

Hedging – Plants with Feet of Clay

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It is all hedging at this time of year….

These yew hedge planting pointers apply equally to almost all other hedging plants as well, certainly anything that needs a well drained soil.

  1. You can dig a trench to plant your hedging if the ground is well drained.
  2. You can improve the soil as much as you like if the ground is well drained.
  3. You should water your plants well and often if the ground is well drained.
  4. You can use the largest plants you can afford if the ground is well drained.

You have spotted a pattern here: when planting a hedge, it is important to think about drainage.

If you have heavy clay soil (sticky grey, blue or yellow), the good news is that you have richly fertile soil.
The bad news is that water does not drain well through it, which some plants have a problem with.

So please, save yourself a lot of hard work and a load of grief.  Watch our film on how to plant a country hedge (link on the home page) even if you are planting the smartest yew.

  1. On badly drained soils, always plant small plants.
  2. On badly drained soils, always plant in a slit, not a trench.
  3. On badly drained soils, improve the soil after planting and when your hedging is growing away by adding a mulch of well rotted compost/manure and letting the worms do the work.
  4. On badly drained soils, only water newly planted hedging if there is a danger that the soil will dry out completely. When you do water, soak the plants and then DO NOT WATER for a couple of weeks afterwards.

The reason is this:
If you dig a hole or trench in clay, it fills with water when it rains and the surface puddle water on the surrounding ground tries to run into your hole, keeping it full.
The fact that you backfilled the hole with lovely, porous compost when planting only gives it the consistency of a sponge in a bath.  The roots of almost all hedging plants need to be able to breathe underground.
A trench in clay means they will probably drown.

So plant hedging on clay the easy way and dig as little as possible!

A Stake a Stake, my kingdom for… a Stake?

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People seem to think that every newly-planted tree needs a stake. They are sometimes (but not always) right as despite lots of writing to the contrary, staking is not always the best thing to do for your tree.

Here are a few reasons why.  Staked trees:

  • tend to have a smaller root system than unstaked ones
  • they also tend to grow taller and so are not as well anchored as unstaked ones.
  • do not like very close company and so they tend to grow away from their stake, so are less straight
  • break more easily in a storm as the tree tie can prevent the trunk acting as a shock absorber
  • can be injured by the tie and the stake if either are used incorrectly

So, when you plant a tree (remember the planting season runs until mid-March) about the first question  you should ask is “Will that tree need staking?”

And here are the reasons why it might.  Your tree:

  • is going to be planted in a windy spot
  • will be planted in loose or thin soil and will fall over unless it is steadied while its roots grow
  • is a 6/8 cm standard or larger which will make it relatively top heavy or tall when compared to its roots (this is often the case with bare root standards)
  • might be an obstruction to people, bicycles, vandals, whatever and so could get knocked over (before it knocks them over…)

If any of the above apply, then staking will help while your tree grows the rootsystem it needs to “stand on its own two feet”. A stake has outlasted its purpose if it has been supporting the tree for more than two years, and 12-18 months is better.

So much for whether a tree needs a stake or not.  What about the tie?

Well, if you think about what a tree does when the wind blows hard, it bends, or sways.  The top is blown the furthest and the trunk bends from the ground up, acting as a shock absorber.  The tie must therefore NOT be three things.

It must not be:

  • too far up the trunk, otherwise the trunk can’t do its shock absorber thing, and
  • too tight, otherwise the bark can be damaged, disease can enter through the wound, nutrients do not flow properly and so on.
  • made out of thin hard material – no wire, string or rope here. Use buckle and strap ties or elastic tie fabric only

Relax and watch you plants grow!

Hawthorn Hedge Planting – Tip 1

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A lot of people will tell you to spray the weeds off before planting a hawthorn hedge.

Don’t bother. Use woven polypropylene weed prevention fabric instead. Cut the undergrowth short, put the fabric down where you want to plant the hedge and weigh it down with stones. If you want to be really tidy, push a strip about 2″ (5cms) wide of the fabric into the soil with a spade down each edge and at both ends (there is a good film on how to plant a native hedge on our site).

You slit the fabric where you want your hawthorn plants and plant as normal. No weedkillers, no regrowth. And no need to water as it acts as a mulch as well. Over the 2-3 years it takes your hedge to establish this is an amazing labour saver and will cost you less than the weedkiller bill over the same time.

And, if you need them, we can supply the hawthorn hedging plants too….

Sit back and watch your hedge grow. Enjoy.