For any Juneau gardeners buying and taking home trees this spring, master gardener Ed Buyarski suggests keeping the bare roots moist until the actual planting.
Buyarski had a variety of tips for tree planting during Gardentalk on KTOO’s “Morning Edition” program.
“Trees don’t grow deep. Nothing grows deep roots here. Even the huge spruce and hemlock trees don’t grow more than 3 feet deep,” Buyarski said. “Really, we’re better off making a wide area. Dig your hole perhaps a foot to foot and a half deep at most, but wider (by) loosening up the existing soil.”
Loosened soil will allow the tree’s roots to spread out.
For grafted trees, keep the grafted portion above the soil when you plant it.
Mix in soil amendment or compost into the hole and don’t forget to water your newly planted tree. Stake up the tree so that it can establish its roots, and keep the weed wacker away. Spread mulch around the tree to keep the weeds down, but not right up to the trunk.
It’s a madhouse!
Juneau’s annual plant and garden sale runs 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Safeway parking lot. Various retailers and other organizations plan to sell vegetable and flower starts, seed potatoes, shrubs, berry plants, perennials and fruit trees that have been selected for growing in Southeast Alaska.
