Hey,
I've been landscaping my garden over the summer, double dug down and now the trees have arrived. Planted the first four with no issues but I dug the hole to the last one to find the soil about two foot down was very wet. The more I moved the soil the more it turned into pretty much water/sludge. I live in a new build so I'm assuming it is the clay base. I should note that the soil is draining fine until I hit that two foot level.
I've kept digging to three foot (twice the depth of the root ball of the tree). You can see the layers of mud which are damp but I really don't know the best solution to planting this without root rot being an issue. I tried to dig a trench nearby which is lower down in the gradient of the garden, but as soon as I get to 1.5ft deep I hit solid rubble. As much as I try I can't loosen it. I guess this is stopping the rain from draining at the edge rather than where I want the tree to go.
Any ideas?
I've been landscaping my garden over the summer, double dug down and now the trees have arrived. Planted the first four with no issues but I dug the hole to the last one to find the soil about two foot down was very wet. The more I moved the soil the more it turned into pretty much water/sludge. I live in a new build so I'm assuming it is the clay base. I should note that the soil is draining fine until I hit that two foot level.
I've kept digging to three foot (twice the depth of the root ball of the tree). You can see the layers of mud which are damp but I really don't know the best solution to planting this without root rot being an issue. I tried to dig a trench nearby which is lower down in the gradient of the garden, but as soon as I get to 1.5ft deep I hit solid rubble. As much as I try I can't loosen it. I guess this is stopping the rain from draining at the edge rather than where I want the tree to go.
Any ideas?