So I came across a couple comments in different threads that were similar to something I have been doing, but in a slightly different way.
They were talking about how to plant trees in wet ground. The suggestion was to auger holes into the ground around where you are planting a tree. The purpose being to send the water into these deeper holes and keep it from pooling in the hole for the new tree and drowning the little tree.
I have augered holes in order to fill them with manure,
compost, and new soil, then top it with the original soil and the new tree. The hope was to give the tree a place it could get lots of mixed nutrients and easily send its root deep. I have very heavy clay soil just 6-10" below the topsoil so it can be difficult to establish a tree.
I have not done a lot of these holes and actually I screwed up on the first batch. I put in a bunch of "hot" chicken manure that was not composted properly. It killed the trees very quickly. They were dead in 3-4 weeks. I have since learned from that experience. I use mainly compost and a good garden soil that sits on top of the well composted manure in the bottom. That way the tree grows thru the soil first, then compost, and gets to the manure last. No more dead trees. The only problem I have had with this is the mice and ground squirrels digging into the root zone and damaging the tree that way.
On to my actual questions...
What do people think of using an auger to dig several 3' holes around a tree then filling with a manure/compost/straw/wood chip mix?
Then planting deep rooting plants surrounding the whole area?
Could this be a legitimate way of improving the soil quickly?
If I did a whole bunch of these in a larger area and filled them all with the large amount of manure my livestock create would this be worth the effort?
Would this get more nutrients into the ground and help increase the microbial diversity and health of the soil?
I could even inoculate each hole with mycorrhizal fungi.
What would be the problems with this idea?