What is the best way to prep the soil for tree planting?
I somewhat agree with the person that said, “trees growing in the wild don’t need amending”. Well, trees in the wild have the luxury of not being planted where earth moving equipment and other construction type events take place. Also, and I don’t mean to sound crass, but think of how much better trees in the wild would look had their holes had been amended. Amending soil gives the tree a good jump start and then, when it starts getting bigger, it’s pretty much on its own. You should amend existing soil with organic soil amendments. There are things at the big box stores (Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc.) like bags of soil amendment, peat moss, bags of top soil, etc. I typically fill a wheel barrow with one or a combination of these amendments and work them into the existing soil. So, I dig my hole for the tree and I’m putting the dug out soil outside the hole next to where the tree is going. I’ve dug the hole bigger than the size of the root ball going back in the hole (both deeper and wider)
