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(Chris-)

1. Plant bare root trees before the end of February while the tree is dormant (“asleep”) - the buds start to open in March. UNTIL YOU PLANT, KEEP THE ROOTS FROM DRYING OUT, HEAT AND FROST – eg cover them well with lots of wet newspaper in a big plastic bag in a shed.
2. Dig a hole a bit bigger than the roots.
3. Break up any hard layer at the bottom.
4. Mix some compost or leafmould in with the soil.
5. Put some soil and compost at the bottom. Or you can put in the turf upside down, if you made the hole in grass.
6. Put in two 120cm stakes on each side of hole, so they cannot touch the tree.
7. Put the tree back in with the roots spread out. Make sure it's straight – get someone to hold it for you. Look for the ‘soil line’ on the trunk and make sure the soil will bury it to the same line. Don’t bury the swollen bit which is where the tree was grafted.
8. Put the rest of the soil mix back in.
9. Put about a square metre of newspaper or cardboard around the trunk to keep grass and weeds out of the way. Or you can use a woven plastic mulch mat, which lets water through.
10. Pile loads of soil improver (e.g. Lakeland Gold or home-made compost) on top of the paper (or under the mulch mat). Water well.
11. Tie the tree to each stake with something SOFT in a figure of 8 (bits of inner tube are good).
12. If your tree has not been pruned, you may need to prune it now. Cherries, plums (and other trees with stones in the fruit) should not be pruned till the buds start to open in spring. One year old apples and pears: cut about 75cm above the ground, just above a bud, a slightly sloping cut with very sharp secateurs. Do the same with stone fruit in the early spring. (-Chris)

Planting a pot-grown treeHow do you plant a tree which has been grown in a pot?
Looking after newly planted fruit treesHow do you look after a newly planted fruit tree?
Compost mixture for a tree in a tubWhat sort of compost do you use in a tub to plant a tree or bush?