Thanks for reading! I'm new to Gardening, I live in GP, Alberta. I've been told the soil here is referred to as "Grande Prairie Gumbo". We live in a new home (just about 2 years old) and put in sod this year. I love flowers, shrubs, etc, and have some time through the summers (which here only last end of May to Sept) to devote to making our yard attractive. In order to avoid the "square yard syndrome" I paid a lady through our local greenhouse to come up with a landscape design for me (I found choosing what types of plants go where, and for which area, overwhelming) We are in phase 1 of planting, as it was too large a plan to do it all this year and $$$ to buy everything at once. So far we've put in lilacs, golden elder, one Thunderchild Crabapple, one Parkland apple, two Pear trees, 2 Dogwood shrubs, and about 6 Japanese Barberry. The soil is thick clay, and the advice from the local greenhouse was to "dig the hold extra deep and fill the bottom with manure and topsoil". So far all that we've planted isn't dead yet... but I have my concerns. The leaves on the Crab are showing (from my online research) signs of "overwatering". The Barberries leaves are all curled up and crispy nearest the roots, one has completely crisped up. (I assume there is no bringing the fellow back) Because the soil is clay and drainage is very poor, I assumed that watering a little bit, by hand, everyday would be the way to go. I think I was wrong. What does "water regularly" actually mean, in poorly drained soil? It is POOR drainage, I did the "12 inch test hole" and 24 hours later, the water had only drained about 1/3 of the way. We spent over $1000 on all these plants, and I sure hope that I can somehow learn to keep them alive. Is it too late? What should I be doing, or is the damage done?
Use no soil amendments except in very specific conditions of raised or amended beds for plants with very limited root systems. If the existing soil is very poor, remove and replace with good field soil or place at least six inches of good field soil on the surface. However, you should match soil types as backfilling with a good sandy loam in a heavy clay will serve as a collection point for water and the roots will suffocate. Soil amendments in a small planting hole do not assist plant establishment and growth. It is better to use the amendments as a mulch. The only exception is where the entire plant root zone for many years can be amended. --Carl E. Whitcomb, Establishment and Maintenance of Landscape Plants (1987 (1991), Lacebark Inc., Stillwater) http://www.lacebarkinc.com/
Thankyou - it seems I've done it wrong then. I added some topsoil (only about 3 surface inches worth, what we'd added to do sod) and some "soil conditioner" mulch type stuff. The majority of what we put back was clay though. Should I mulch it with the remaining conditioner? What about watering in clay soil? How often should "regular watering" be done? What does that mean? A bit every day, or once a week? Can anything be done for the trees/bushes showing signs of overwatering, or should I just leave them to dry out?
