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Planting trees in wet ground

DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
in Problem solving
Like @plant pauper, whose picture this is -



I have a wet soil. I also have a lot of bare-rooted trees to plant. I dug holes, but as above, the holes filled with water. Four weeks on they're still pretty much full. So, high-water table I guess.

How to get around this? I'm considering making mounds and then planting the trees on the mounds, but I'd welcome suggestions from the floor ...


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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,653
    That's what the RHS advises for wet soils.  Stops the tree roots drowning.

    https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=152

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    @Obelixx, good link thanks.

    Current thoughts are to remove the grass, make a ring of breeze blocks, fill in with whatever soil/compost/scalpings I can lay my hands on and pop the tree in. It'll look ugly for a while, but if the tree survives and the soil looks to be holding itself together I can remove the breeze blocks and shape the sides of the mound to make it look "natural".

    Question - how high should I make the mound?
  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904
    Great link Obes. Thanks for that.
  • glasgowdanglasgowdan Posts: 632
    DampGardenMan said:
    @Obelixx, good link thanks.

    Current thoughts are to remove the grass, make a ring of breeze blocks, fill in with whatever soil/compost/scalpings I can lay my hands on and pop the tree in. It'll look ugly for a while, but if the tree survives and the soil looks to be holding itself together I can remove the breeze blocks and shape the sides of the mound to make it look "natural".

    Question - how high should I make the mound?
    Don't go daft...  20cm or so should be fine. You do want the tree to root in the ground rather than the unstable mound after all... just not quite so deeply. 
  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    glasgowdan said:
    Don't go daft...  20cm or so should be fine. You do want the tree to root in the ground rather than the unstable mound after all... just not quite so deeply. 
    That's just about the height of a standard breeze block, so that will be very convenient!
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  • DampGardenManDampGardenMan Posts: 1,054
    Freddies Dad said:
    If you got a long stick and hammered it down in the hole a few times does that make the water drain away?
    Don't know - will check tomorrow.
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,566

    Success will depend on the varieties of trees you have to plant. It might be advisable to look each one up and see what kind of soil they need. Willows will of course be like pigs in muck but you may have some which need good drainage. Tree roots spread in a wide area from the trunk so even mound planting may not be enough for some of them.

    Good luck.

  • plant pauperplant pauper Posts: 6,904
    Since it's my pic I'm going to butt in.
    On the left of the pic you can see some black "soil". That is near enough pure peat so no amount of stick poking will make the water go away. It started to seep in as we (he) were digging. Will the mound method still work on a foot of clag over a peat base?
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