Hello all,
We have a few acres here in north Spain which we just started to work on. We are about to plant some
trees, only problem is, it's pouring down since days and the soil is quite soggy. This is mild oceanic, very humid climate (1500mm/year) and the soil is very sandy and acidic. So we thought we have good drainage. Still the planting holes we dug gave us some surprises : one day after digging them they filled with
water. They are over a foot deep so they must have filled from surrounding ground water and surface seepage not direct rainfall. Only a few holes that were at the edge of the terrace remained empty, the rest are full to the brim - 8 paces distance made all the difference between holes and how they behaved. I did observe a good 2 inch decrease of water within a few hours when it doesn't rain intensively, but with heavy rain they keep refilling. Also digging down a foot next to the water filled holes, the soil looks normal, not like a soaked sponge anyway, so it doesn't look water logged. Still the newly created holes fill up quite quickly especially with this non stop rain.
This raises some questions:
1 We just bought our 2 year old bare
root fruit trees -
should we go ahead with planting despite the drencehd soil? At least we don't have to water... Just need to remove water form the planting holes and backfill with the currently rather soggy soil.
2 Would the hole flooding effect occur if there is material in the holes? My gut feeling is that water is drawn in by the lack of resistance I.e. Lack of material and the soil is otherwise well drained (hence the quick reaction tom rain and pause in rain) Or are the flooded holes an indication of a (seasonaly) waterlogged soil? If so:
3 would throwing some turf in the bottom of the holes and then backfilling with
native soil to create a slight (few inch) mound above grade be a prudent move in this case?
I would much appreciate your insights!
