Wow, thanks so much for all the advice everyone. I'm in Wisconsin so not Bermuda grass. I lived in Florida for 20 and do not miss it at all.  So when placing 6" of hardwood mulch, that does mean 6" above grade correct? Do you remove some topsoil so that the top of the mulch isn't so far above grade?

So just dig my hole for the plants and plant them accordingly and add cardboard under my mulch? What about above the root ball? Seems like the top edge of the root ball would be directly exposed to the grass and the grass would be able to grow under the cardboard and over the roots, no? I'm going to be inoculating the roots/soil with mycorrhizae and growing wine cap mushrooms in the mulch. Would the cardboard method affect this plan at all?

Hello all. I'm planning a small garden bed and planting a few fruit trees/bushes as well as some flowering trees. Grass will need to be removed from all these areas and I'm wondering how deep I will need to dig to reliably get the grass out? I see info online suggesting that grass roots can go 6 inches or deeper? Not sure what type of grass I have but I'm in Green Bay WI and the grass should be native as the home is 70 years old. I can rent a sod cutter but that'll only go 2.5" deep. Thanks!

Ok thanks. In regards to mulch, I've read that the wine cap spawn I've ordered needs hardwood mulch, which I'll be layering with straw. Can I put some shredded pine bark mulch on the bottom of my 6" deep mulch layer in order to incorporate something that decomposes faster? I also do not have access to aged wood chip mulch, only fresh, not sure if that would be a problem. Thanks for the help!

Eric Hanson wrote:Whenever I plant a tree I always dig a nice, deep, broad hole.  In my case I was planting rootstock so digging was a bit easier.  I dug my holes, brought over a few bags of topsoil and manure (I get this from the big box store), and then mix the clay I dug up 50:50 with a mixture of equal parts manure and topsoil. I try to break up clay clumps as much as possible.  I also add in a bit of bonemeal for improved rooting.  Then I backfill the hole with the soil mixture, stick the little tree in and cover everything with more soil mixture, pack down and put in a growing stake.  Make certain the hole is nice and deep, partly to ensure good drainage and water thoroughly.

I'm going to be doing this as well as your wine cap suggestion and also mulching with hardwood as Redhawk suggested. Planting a Contender, currently in a pot and about 5'-6' tall. I'm wondering how deep and wide I should amend the soil to prevent the root circling issue mentioned? I have very heavy clay/loam for about a foot down, and then solid clay. I was thinking of roto-tilling pine bark and/or shredded mulch into the clay starting at the depth of the solid clay to 12" below that (maybe adding a slow release source of nitrogen to counteract the decomp), then doing your 50/50 mix of clay/manure/topsoil from the surface to where the clay starts. Good idea or should I go deeper? Asking for failure? Any alternate suggestions? If that plan is feasible I'm not sure if I should worry about settling as the bark/mulch/solid clay mixture broke down.