The cooler weather in Seattle means it’s time to plant trees! Fall is a great time to do this, because the weather is much cooler and this allows trees and plants to establish new roots rather than withering in dry, summer conditions.

Planting a tree seems easy enough. Dig a hole, plop the tree in, cover with dirt, water, and voila!  That’s mostly right, but there are some steps that you can take to ensure that tree is planted properly and gets off to a great start.

1. Call before you dig! Check to make sure you’re not digging into underground lines. Call 1-800-424-5555 for utility location services. Do it at least 2 days prior to digging.

2. Dig the planting hole only as deep as the root system and at least twice as wide. It is important to make the hole wide, as new roots will expand more quickly into loose soil. If the tree is planted too deep, new roots may not develop due to lack of oxygen.

3. With balled or burlap-wrapped tree, remove all wire baskets, twine, and burlap from the root ball. Linda Chalker-Scott, Ph.D., a horticulturalist and associate professor with Washington State University argues that it’s much better for tree growth if you actually disturb the root ball. Read more of her explanation in this paper, which lists step-by-step instructions for planting a ball or burlapped tree. “The most important reason to disturb the root ball of a balled and burlapped tree is to inspect the root system,” she writes, adding: “The circling, girdling, kinked, and hooked root systems often found in containerized plants occur frequently with B&B materials, too.”

4. Make sure the tree is at the proper depth. Better to plant the tree slightly high, about 1-2 inches above the base of the trunk flare, than it plant it at or below the growing level. This allows for some settling.

5. Backfill with native soil (the soil you dug out of the hole). Don’t use any type of soil amendment, advises WSU professor Linda Chalker-Scott in this paper. She says adding soil amendments to the planting hole may help it grow vigorously in the first few years, but notes the organic matter eventually decomposes and you may be left with a sunken hole. She writes:

Amended backfill has markedly different characteristics than surrounding native soil; it is more porous and water will wick away to the finer-textured native soil. In the summer, moisture within the planting hole will be depleted by the plant but not replaced by water held more tightly in the native soil. This results in water stress to the plant unless the planting hole is kept irrigated, a costly and often unrealistic practice. During wet seasons water will move quickly through the
amended soil only to be held back by the more slowly draining native soil.

6. Mulch the planting area with organic mulch. Lay about 2-4 inches. This will help keep a buffer between the trunk and the mulch to prevent disease. Mulch also helps hold moisture and moderate soil temperatures.

7. Water. Keep it moist and well-watered for the first growing season, but don’t overdo it. Most likely, Seattle’s fall and winter rains will do your work for you.

Contact Ecoyards to setup a consolation if you want help choosing and installing new trees on your property.  

References:

The Myth of Soil Amendments: “When transplanting trees or shrubs into landscapes, amend the backfill soil with organic matter.”

New tree planting, city of Seattle website.

There are so many good fruits ripening on trees about this time of year. Some trees are bursting with a variety of apples. Others are bending to the weight of tantalizing plums. My neighbor has an Italian plum tree whose many branches hang over the fence into my backyard, providing me with a bounty of the tart-sweet fruits. The fruits at the top of the tree have ripened first, but the lower branches are bearing fruit ready for the picking.

Italian plums are terrific for canning, freezing or for making into jams and jellies. My son and I like to pick them and eat them fresh off the tree.

The European varieties are usually blue or purple. They have a firmer texture, milder flavor, and are sometimes tart so they’re ideal candidates for baking. They’re dark blue when ripe, with yellow flesh that separates easily from the pit.

Here’s a guide to preserving plums and prunes.

If you have a fruit tree that is bearing more fruit than you can handle, consider contacting one of the fruit-picking services in the city, like City Fruit. These groups help homeowners pick their bounty, reserving much of it for donation to local food banks.

To learn more about growing fruits in western Washington, consult Washington State University Extension’s many publications on this topic.

Fall is a great time to get planting, and there are plenty of plant sales happening this month to get you started.

The Central Puget Sound chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society is holding a native plant sale this Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, from 10 AM to 4 PM at Magnuson Park in Seattle. You can find a tentative list of plants, bulbs and seeds for sale here.

The King County Iris Society is having its beardless iris sale this Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sale is across from Crossroads Bellevue, NE 8th & 156th Ave. NE.

For gardeners in Tacoma, the Seymour Conservancy is holding its fall plant sale this Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012,  at Pt. Defiance Greenhouses. Pick up hardy herbs, garden mums, perennials & houseplants. The sale is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

1 inch per week watering

Seattle was recently on one of the driest streaks in decades. Not a drop of rain for 50 straight days, though just one day shy of the record 51 dry days set in 1951.

For gardeners and homeowners, a dry spell means plants and lawns may need a little extra TLC this summer. Even plants that are well-established and drought-tolerant still may need a bit of a drink to help them get through the extra dry spell. We earlier blogged about how to care for lawns during dry weather. When you water your lawn and landscapes, do it in the early morning to avoid losing water to evaporation. It’s better to water deeply (about one inch per week) than to water too often, too little. Deep watering is better for plant health than frequent shallow watering. Why? Light applications of water promote lush growth but shallow grass roots. Shallow-rooted turf grass undergo more stress in dry conditions.

So, how much is an inch of water a week? Experts say this amounts to roughly six gallons per square yard per week. One crude but easy way to figure out how long you need to water to get one inch a week: scatter five empty tuna cans or other containers throughout your lawn. Turn on your sprinkler system and let it run for 30 minutes. Measure the depth of water in those cans, add the amounts together and divide by 5 (or the number of cans you end up using). You’ll end up with the average amount of water you get when you have the sprinkler on for 30 minutes. Once you know the depth of wet soil, you can calculate how long you need to run your sprinkler.

Installing a smart controller on your sprinkler system is an even better way to control the amount of water your lawn or landscape beds need.

The EPA provides a good tipsheet with other tips on saving water for outdoor use, which we’ve summarized below.

1. Know how much water your landscape actually needs before you set your sprinkler. Your local utility can offer recommendations for how much water certain plants need in your region and best times to water. Generally, it’s best to water lawns and landscapes in the early morning and late evening because significant amounts of water can be lost due to evaporation during the heat of the day.

2. Look for the label: If your system uses a clock timer, consider upgrading to a WaterSense labeled controller. WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers act like a thermostat for your lawn, using local weather data to determine when and how much to water, reducing waste and improving plant health.

3. Tune up your system: Inspect irrigation systems and check for leaks and broken or clogged sprinkler heads. Fix sprinkler heads that are broken or spraying on the sidewalk, street, or driveway.

4. Play zone defense: When planting, assign areas of your landscape different hydrozones depending on sun/shade exposure, soil and plant types, and type of sprinklers, then adjust your irrigation system or watering schedule based on those zones’ specific needs. This helps you avoid overwatering some areas or underwatering others.

Ecoyards is now a member of the Irrigation Association. It’s a cool organization of irrigation professionals who are committed to promoting efficient irrigation and other water-saving efforts.

To read more about ways you can reduce water use in your landscape, read some of our previous blog posts on upgrading your sprinkler system, how to repair and maintain your sprinkler system, and how to conserve water.

Contact Ecoyards to setup a consultation to upgrade your existing irrigation system or to install a new water-efficient system.