Trees planted in our new garden area!

It's not a garden without some trees!

We have planted four silver birches amongst the new beech hedge along the side of our new garden area.

Although bareroot trees can only be planted in winter, potted trees such as we sell can be planted almost anytime: just avoid planting in the heat of summer and when the ground is waterlogged or frozen.

There are several approaches to planting trees, so you might prefer different methods to those we used:

1. Give your tree a good watering about 30-60 minutes beforehand.

This gives enough time for the water to soak all the way through and for the roots to drink it up. This helps to plump up the roots and protect them from damage during the planting process, and also makes the tree easier to get out of the pot!

2. Dig a hole! Some people favour square holes: the theory is that roots will follow the outer curves of a round hole, as it is less effort than breaking through the undisturbed soil that surrounds the planting hole. Whereas with a square hole it is more effort for roots to make a 90 degree turn at the edge than it is to carry on going.

The more spread out the root system the better: the tree will be better anchored to the ground, and it will be able to draw on water and nutrients from a large area.

We have a loose, sandy soil at Newbourne so we doubt the shape of the hole makes much difference - no roots could be that lazy!

3. Some people think that adding organic matter to the planting hole - such as manures, composts and soil improvers - will deter the roots from spreading out into the less fertile surrounding garden soil, as they will prefer to stay where it is nutrient-rich.

As we have low-nutrient sandy soil in Newbourne, we think the trees will need a little help. Also, as the trees are growing in pots, they already have rich soil surrounding their roots.

So as a compromise we dug our holes much bigger than needed and backfilled with compost mixed into ordinary soil, to give a graduation from the pot compost to ordinary soil.

On the higher levels of the holes we just used the unimproved garden soil as we don't want to encourage the roots to head towards the surface for nutrients.

4. People often like to use root builders to help trees and shrubs settle into new surroundings.

Traditionally bonemeal was used, which is high in phosphorous, one of the three main chemicals plant need to grow (phosphorus for the roots, nitrogen for leaves, and potassium for overall health including flowers and fruits).

Ever more popular are mycorrhizal fungi. Abundant in nature these are bought in powder form to be dusted onto the roots and planting hole to help establish a bond.


5. Have some sort of stake or cane to hand so you can check you are planting to the correct depth.

Just lay it across the hole next to the bottom of the trunk with either end on normal ground level.

6. Tread down the soil mix with your feet. You are trying to firm down the tree and remove any large air pockets: you are not trying to concrete it in place so don't get carried away!

While you are doing this make sure the trunk is straight from all angles: you don't want it on the huh before it's even had a chance to get going! Ideally a second person will be able to give you help with this ("Lean it towards me a bit, now that way a bit, no, back a bit"!)

7. Some people are against using tree stakes as they think it is mollycoddling the plant. However, our light sandy soil will make it difficult for the trees to firmly anchor themselves, and the site is relatively exposed to the wind, so we do think they will need the help.

The aim is not to immobilise the tree, just to stop it being blown over in strong wind. All plants need to sway a little in the breeze (even seedlings) - fighting against this is what builds up their "muscles" and makes them better, stronger plants. We went with using single stakes, put in diagonally.

Our most problematic winds come from roughly the direction of the BT Tower at Martlesham, so that is the direction the tops of the stakes face (think of when you lean yourself into the wind when walking along the seafront!).

8. Water in well!

Depending on weather and conditions, trees can need watering weekly for about the first year you have them, probably twice a week in the first summer.

Make sure you give a good drench so the water soaks down - you do not want roots heading towards the surface to drink from light waterings.

We used one watering can worth per tree.