[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
TH: compacted soil
Post-To: Tree-House@Majordomo.Flora.Com (Community Forestry) ----------
-------
Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 10:32:56 -0400 ---------------------------------
From: Laura Canis <laurac@csrlink.net>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding this issue, a snip from Thalassa Crusoe, the classic *Making
Things Grow Outdoors* (NY: Knopf, 1971):
<The soil under old, well-established trees is usually poor and very
hard-packed, and it is a job to get even good-natured pachysandra
successfully rooted. The trick is to get hold of an old, low-sided
wooden box, knock out the bottom, and, if you are garden proud, paint
the sides green. Set this on the ground underneath the tree near the
trunk and fill it up with rich compost. Then plant the ground cover in
that. By the time the wooden sides have rotted and been removed, the
plants will be thoroughly established. You can then train them to
spread outwards by putting down the usual thick layer of compost on top
of the soil. This is far the simplest way to get small ground-cover
plants established in impossible conditions.>
She also recommends purple ajuga as an evergreen ground cover that will
spread in impossible places -- full sun or shade, and it blooms
throughout may-june. It fills in fast, has colorful leaves...and is
almost uncontrolable, so watch out for its pest-like characteristics.
Would be great under a street-tree, since it would be boxed in by
cement.
<Oddly enough, big trees look best with low, creeping ground covers
circling them, while small trees with less dense foliage are set off
extremely well with big plants....Hostas and daylilies are both verry
attractive in such a position, and ...they do suppress weeds when massed
together in light shade under a tree. Both plants have large root
systems, so they are not amenable to planting above ground in a box; no
matter how hard the ground or how full of roots, a planting hole has to
be dug. As these plants have a wide foliage spread they can be set into
the ground some distance away from the base of the trunk, but it still
can be extremely hard to dig a big enough hole. And if this kind of
planting is to be done well, the hole must be big and loaded w/ compost,
for there is tremendous competition for food underneath a tree.
<One way out of the difficulty is to get a crowbar, hammer it in fairly
deeply, then bang it from side to side until it is loose enough to come
out. Repeat the process a number of times around the edge of your
planting hole and eventually enought hard-packed soil will have been
worked loose so that you can get a shovel in. Once you have reached
this stage, you are on your way. But don't try to establish huge old
plants in these platning holes; a strong, young division will settle in
faster and do better.>
>From experience, I can say tthat daylilies under a small ornamental tree
suppress weeds and improve the appearance of the forlorn-looking little
tree.
Also, those pesky violets are actually wonderful groundcover under
shrubbery.
--Laura, zone 6 (central PA)
Follow-Ups: