Planting a tree: how to do it properly
The right tree in the right place, the best planting season, the planting hole, staking and watering in the first few years. This is how your new tree grows into a healthy old one.
A tree you plant today may still be standing a hundred years from now. Most problems with garden trees start at planting time: a tree that’s too big for the space, or a tree that has been planted too deep.
The right tree in the right place
First look at its mature size: not how big the tree is at the nursery, but how tall and wide it will be in thirty years’ time. An English oak or a beech becomes a giant; a snowy mespilus or a whitebeam stays small.
- Distance from the house: at least half the width of the crown, and more for trees with thirsty roots that go looking for water (willow, poplar).
- Distance from the boundary: in Belgium and the Netherlands, trees that grow taller than 2 m usually have to be planted at least 2 m from the property boundary.
- Light and soil: most fruit trees want full sun; a Japanese maple prefers partial shade.
- Pipes and cables: don’t plant above drains, cables or a septic tank.
Tip
Put your garden on the map under Gardens and choose Will it fit here?. Bladwijzer looks at the crown width, the shade cast by other trees, the property boundary and plants that don’t get on with each other (such as walnut and apple).
Trees for a small garden
- ShrubSnowy mespilusAmelanchier lamarckii
- Broadleaf treeWhitebeamSorbus aria
- ShrubCornelian cherryCornus mas
- Broadleaf treeJudas treeCercis siliquastrum
- Broadleaf treeRowanSorbus aucuparia
- Fruit treeSour cherryPrunus cerasus
- ShrubJapanese mapleAcer palmatum
- Fruit treeMedlarMespilus germanica
When to plant
- Bare-root: from November to March, when the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Cheap, and the tree establishes well.
- Root-balled: from October to April; evergreen trees are best planted in September–October or in April.
- Container-grown (in a pot): all year round, but even then preferably in autumn, so that the roots are already growing before summer.
Step by step
- Don’t let the roots dry out. Stand a bare-root tree in a bucket of water until you plant it, or heel it in.
- Dig a planting hole twice as wide as the roots, but no deeper. Loosen the bottom and sides with a garden fork.
- Trim off any damaged roots cleanly.
- Don’t plant too deep. The root flare, where the roots meet the trunk, should sit level with the soil. A tree planted too deep slowly suffocates.
- Put in a stake on the windward side, at an angle or beside the root ball (not through the roots), and tie the trunk loosely with a flexible tree tie.
- Fill the hole with the soil you dug out, perhaps with a little compost mixed in, and firm it gently with your foot.
- Water generously (a full watering can or two), even if it’s raining: this washes the soil in between the roots.
- Spread a mulch (leaves, wood chips) around the tree, but not right up against the trunk.
Watch out
Don’t put artificial fertiliser in the planting hole: it scorches the young roots. A little compost worked into the soil is enough.
The first three years
- Water during dry spells, in spring too: a good soaking once a week is better than a little every day.
- Keep a circle around the trunk clear of grass and weeds; they compete with the tree for water.
- Protect the trunk from rabbits, deer and mowers with a tree guard or wire mesh.
- Formative pruning: remove double leaders and strongly competing branches, so that the tree has a single, sturdy main stem.
- Loosen the tree tie after a year or two, so it doesn’t grow into the trunk.
Planted a tree? Add it to your garden: you’ll get its pruning dates in your calendar and can follow how it grows over the years.