i recently built a small raised flower bed that i want to plant an arborvitae in. the height of the flower bed is about the same size of the rootball so i wondering if its okay to place the plant in and fill in with topsoil. the ground below the flowerbed is very hard so it would probably be a good idea to loosen the old soil...or am i wrong? also, should i amend the soil and if so with what(manure, etc.) thanks, cj
BTW is anyone aware of a landscaping newsgroup?
Your gardening, landscaping, etc., NG would be the best place to get expert help with your project. Good luck.
Joe
Small? Dunno, AFAIK, arborvitae have long surface roots rather than a tap root system, so I wouldn't think a small raised bed would be ideal. I'm no expert on such things, though.
Have you tried a web search on ? There seems to be some information out there. Some even suggest it on clay soil, so it seems it might work (don't know about the "small" part, though).
You're killin' me with all this detail.
How deep is the flowerbed? Where are you located (GPS)? Which variety of tree is this (Giant vs Dwarf). What is the climate, light conditions (sun vs shade)?
I presume you will buy the tree local. They can really help answer any concerns if a nursery business. Store bought plants will have directions on the label.
alt.home.lawn.garden
It is a slow group, regarding threads and posts.
No expert here but I would loosed the soil under the root ball ever so slightly with border fork. For trees this not a good choice because you do not want it to settle after new roots are formed. That is also why I said slightly. The bulk of the roots will grow out, not down.
I would add nothing to backfill except natural organic matter, a couple of bags manure would hurt nothing. No chemicals! Arborvitae are tough plants and will grow in a wide variety of soils including poor ones. My neighbor planted some between our 2 driveways in a strip about 2 feet wide, concrete on two sides and they have flourished for 15 years. They do like good drainage and your raised bed should provide plenty.
If it is a B&B plant remove the burlap from the top 3" of the root ball to keep it from wicking away the moisture. Water well once a week for the first year until the ground freezes and as soon as it starts to warm up next Spring.
Perhaps rec.gardens.
MY guess is that doing what you propose would result in the roots quickly taking over the topsoil part of the bed, making digging and planting other plants difficult. In addition, the plant will not have good connection with the solid ground. It would be better to at least give it an easy path down by digging out a good size hole below the arborvitea before planting it.
On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:28:41 -0400, cj wrote Re arborvitae:
Don't know how active they are but here are three:
alt.building.landscape alt.landscape alt.landscape.architecture
If you are serious about landscaping, you might look at some landscape CAD software. I've been looking for CAD software that has a PREVIEW mode that will display what everything looks like next year when it has all died. That will put me a step ahead. Haven't found it yet.
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