I have an extremely clay soil, do I need to do anything special to prepare the pit for planting?

There is no easy answer when planted trees into a very heavy clay soil. The best advice is not to plant when the soil is excessively wet, or dry as this will make the process much more difficult.

The steps will help with your preparation in heavy clay:

Dig a nice, deep pit for the root ball of the tree - up to twice the size of the container is advisable if possible
Use a substrate such as pea shingle or crushed hardcore in the bottom of the pit, this will elevate the rootball of the tree from the bottom of the pit, should the pit fill with water
Back fill with a 50:50 mix of removed soil and good grade top soil. If you are concerned regarding the quality of the soil, increase the proportion of top soil used in the back fill.

After planting, your watering regime needs to consider the fact that with a heavy clay, there is little drainage, with the potential for pits to fill with water, to the detriment of the tree, during periods of pro-longed heavy rainfall. Simply forking around the areas outside of the planting pit can help water to drain if you are concerned.

For further information, please feel free to contact the Barcham Trees Sales Team.