I have the task of planting trees and shrubs around a large pond/lake.
In previous times, I would have thought of mixing compost/manure into the planting hole, but recently read that compost on top of the soil would seem a better option, leaving a more uniform medium for roots to work into. Being at a low point, there can be quite a bit of runoff into this area and the soil is quite compacted from machinery which created the pond, so digging a hole and planting with compost/manure might hold a lot of water around the roots.
So, compost or manure on top of the soil would seem a good idea, as the soil is pretty poor looking and in some cases, subsoil might be more correct for a description – it is sandy in nature (but not that you would know from the standing water when it rains due to compaction).
On site there is a ready supply of horse manure with woodshavings, which has been building up since September 2015. I have moved it around to keep air in it, but some is fresh this week. I wonder if a top dressing of this manure at planting time over the winter is going to be a bad move due to the young nature of the manure, and rather, should I make the expensive choice of buying in some well rotted manure/compost?
We are talking about planting about 250 trees and shrubs, such as elder, alder, willow, dogwood, guilder rose, silver birch, field maple, buddleja, mahonia, cherry plum, spindle, sea buckthorn, hazel, and amelanchier lamarkii…
I am also thinking that I could just plant the trees and shrubs soon and then work up a batch of manure to go around the stems around March/April??
Any comments gratefully received.
Thanks,
Compo
