How to plant a tree

Woman planting small tree

It can be as easy or complicated as you want to make it.

Let's face it we've all done it, planted a tree at a difficult time of year with little or no preparation. Just because we've found a plant in the garden centre that we have fallen in love with, taken home and thought, hmmmmm, now where do I put it?

The best thing you can do is find out what conditions your plant likes. Does it prefer full sun, part shade, is it frost hardy, wind hardy, will it cope with damp soil or does it prefer it dry?

Once you have found the perfect spot for it (preferably somewhere you can admire it from the house) then set about planting it. Dig a hole approx twice the size of the root system. Mix some compost (store bought or homemade) with some of the soil removed from the hole, 50/50 is good.

Add a few slow release fertiliser tablets to the bottom of the hole, just under where the roots will be. Place your plant into the hole ensuring that it is standing straight and that the surface level will be at the same depth as it was in the pot. Water well. Then mulch your plant to help prevent weeds competing with the plant and also to conserve water in the soil over the summer months - maybe not so critical this time of year when it is so wet! You can use bark, old carpet, or the Wool Bio-mats we have recently got into the shop. These are made from 100% recycled NZ wool, and are an easy to use option.

Staking your plant is a good idea if there's any chance of the plant/tree getting blown about. The last thing you want is your new plant to lose all its newly developed roots because it is rocking about in the wind and they are snapping off. If it's a good size tree you are planting or a windy site I would recommend using hardwood stakes. These come in varying lengths so there's a suitable size there for your plant and conditions. Attaching the tree to the stakes you can use Jute, elastic tree tie, anything that is natural and will eventually break down, I find a lot of the hard plastic ties tend to get forgotten about and can grow into the trunk of your tree rather than breaking. You can also use bamboo stakes for the smaller plants that don't need such robust support. We have these available in lengths starting at 60cm right upto 2.4m tall.