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Posted on 6:45 PM by Wanto and filed under
By Daniel Cumming

With very sandy soil, on the other hand, if the natural drainage is good, holes can be dug, and furthermore by burying the roots 8-9 inches or so down they are kept cooler.

Care must be taken however not to bury the union of the 'stock and scion'. But once again, it is the surface dressings of compost-grass mowings-or old well-rotted dung, which will provide the mulch needed and so ensure that the tree from the start grows as it should. Generally speaking, it is a mistake to dig compost or dung into the soil before planting trees, for this not only makes it difficult to get the roots properly firmed, but it also puts the organic matter in the place where it isn't really needed at that time.

It is tremendously important to know as much as possible about the soil and how it works, for unless we know this we cannot be sure what we require of it. It's possible for even the veriest beginner to understand something about the branches of a bush or tree, because they live in the same environment as the gardener. The roots, however, which may form at least three-quarters of that tree, are below soil level, and in an 'environment' which the gardener cannot appreciate.

When one walks over ground after heavy rain, one's attention is frequently attracted by the sound of air bubbling out of the worm-holes for some considerable distance all round. This emphasizes not only their importance in the drainage and ventilation of the soil, but also the fact that the soil is not a solid structureless material, but a mass of closely fitting units like a jigsaw puzzle in three dimensions.

If I have in one hand soil which I pick up in my own garden, it should contain something like 25,000,000 living organisms. These `bacteria' are not only there to help break down the plant foods so that they may be dissolved in the soil moisture taken up by the fruit tree. They are also there to secrete colloids which, by their `gummy' nature assist in the adherence of the mineral soil particles, forming as it were little crumbs.

This surface planting, coupled with surface feeding and surface mulching, has paid dividends again and again.

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