Sara Venn of the Physic Blog explains how to plant a tree properly.

Planting a tree, be it a fruit bearing tree or a tree that is purely ornamental, is not a difficult or particularly complicated task. However, it is really important that it is planted and cared for immediately post planting, in the correct way to ensure that establishment takes place properly and that the tree begins to grow away and thrive.

So where to begin? Once your tree is purchased and brought home it is important to get it into the earth as quickly as is possible. The only inappropriate time to plant is if the earth is frozen, but at all other times your plant will be better off in the ground than out of it. Whether the tree has been brought as a bare root plant or as a containerised one, the way to plant is identical, although obviously you may keep a tree a little longer in its container than you can keep one that is bare rooted out of the ground. Bare rooted trees are only available from November to March, when they are dormant and can be dug up from the ground, whereas plants in containers are available all year round.

To begin with it is vital that the plant is well watered and this must be achieved by soaking it in a bucket of water. Bare root trees should be soaked for at least 2 hours and a containerised rootball must be thoroughly soaked prior to planting. Whilst the tree is soaking you can get on with preparing the ground for planting.

At this point it’s a good idea to put the tree stake into place and drive it into the ground at least a foot. Put it as close to the plant as you can and once it is driven into the ground backfill the planting hole, ensuring that the plant is straight. Once it is backfilled completely push it in with your foot, or preferably the foot of someone with size 13 feet as it takes less time! Then top up the hole with either more garden soil or with compost.

The ground needs to be very well dug over with all weeds removed. Then you can begin to dig the hole, which must be at least twice the width and twice the depth of the root or rootball, as in the photograph below.

Once the hole is dug the bottom of the hole needs to be forked over to loosen the soil, and them some good garden compost added to the bottom and forked in. At this point if you wish to add a fertiliser to the planting hole it can be added. Blood, Fish and Bone would be an acceptable fertiliser to add but I would personally suggest that Rootgrow, a fungal additive that needs to be applied to the roots of the plant. It then works with the fungi in the soil to improve the roots of the tree, giving it a headstart and making it easier for the tree to take up nutrients by helping it grow nodules on its roots that will hold onto nutrients in a more effective way. This needs to be added to the roots as the tree is being planted.

And that, dear friends, is basically how to plant a tree. All that is left to do is add the tree tie to the tree and stake so that the tree is secure and water it in well. The secret of good establishment of any tree is to water it well and often and to continue to do so for the whole of its first growing season. It will thank you for this by growing big and strong and giving you lots of delicious fruit in return for your endeavours.

My final thought on buying trees is that as they will grow to a considerable size, think long and hard about variety, and if it is grafted on the size of rootstock you want or indeed, need. If you visit a specialist nursery they will be able to help you with this, but if the information is not forthcoming, ask and if there isn’t the relevant information available, try to find somewhere that it is. There are some excellent nurseries online whose websites can provide lots of information and help on these matters and it is well worth taking the time to ensure you get the right tree as it will be around for an awfully long time.

Visit Sara’s blog for more wonderful wisdom on gardening.