Ok so I want to plant a hedge of brugs to screen the front of my house this spring. Our soil here is gumbo--*gumbo=heavy clay soil from the pit* In the summer our ground cracks big time, but we live in a swampy area, so the water table rises pretty high in the winter. I know Ill have to make some kinna 'special' holes to plant my brugs in, and the work factor isnt a problem, but HOW?????? Should I dig massive holes, cover the inside with landscaping fabric, backfill with good draining soil and plant in elevated mounds? The reason I want to use landscaping fabric is because our cracks get severe enough to suck up good soil--*and small animals, toys ect* and how big is big enough? or am I on the wrong track? How far do brug roots go? I have been wondering and wondering....cheryl
what to do??
gee I have no clue! but I just dug up 2 brugs that had been in the ground all summer. I was shocked. The root ball was so small.............. it seemd to go down not out at all. Then again, I had one in a pot (well I had more than 1, LOL) and when the pot broke, the entire thing was just roots.
The good news is they love water when growing. How tall do you want them to get in 1 season? Too bad you can't let them stay in the ground. Why don't you read Monika's threads about alley trees and how to plant them in their pots. That way you can take them up in the winter, replant in the spring and every year they will get bigger. I will be sure to add a couple of my huge yellow brug cuttings to my package to you, which grow up and out fast........a great screen!
Alright Kell,the hole in my jaw healed from the hook,LOL,give this Rookie a clue on "alley Brug"?this has always perked my ears,but to shy to ask.LOL,me to shy to ask!
check out Monika's threads. She is the brug goddess.
http://davesgarden.com/t/338896/
I am going to have alley trees this season if it kills me!
LOL
I have heard the term alley brug but had no clue---thought maybe thats were all your 'brug deals go down" lolololol will read up on this thanks!!! bury pots you say??/ good idea!!!! as for the height issue---well I have a thing for tall brugs:) My house faces the hwy and my roses n pond and all that are in the front, I hate to work all bent over in fornt of the world. Besides a screen of brugs would finally make me feel enclosed like a real garden! thanks again Kell,--by the way--cute song, you could give Barney a run for his money.
I had good results with burying the pots last year. I could keep up with watering & fertilizing much easier. I have heavy clay here too and they didn't seem to mind it.
Think about a raised bed. They way Monika does it is a great idea if you are going to dig them up for the winter and store them. with your longer growing season, i don't know if you would need more holes in the pots or not. brugs have a way of growing so fast here that you can't get them out of the pot without cuttings roots and pots.
they like to run shallow lateral roots around here, a raised bed would give them plenty of room to do that.
Plays,
It's amazing how the Brug roots will grow right out of the pots into the soil/clay.
Playsndirt, my Dr. Seuss got huge this year.Probably 10-12 feet tall or better. Early spring I was gonna move it, but when I started digging the roots were so huge (lateral especially), I never did find out how deep they went, just decided to leave it alone. I don't see how the roots stay in a pot when buried.
Monika puts her brugs in 5 gallon pots. There are holes the size of doorknobs in the sides of the pots. She sinks the whole pot then in the fall she slices down the side of the pot and digs them up.
and it works and works great! LOL
Liz,
I did that too this year on some and it worked great....HG was one and it's doing great except not blooming. LOL
Gloria I was told that it's easier to drill the full pot than to try and do it when it's empty - how'd you do yours?
:S what is hg????
Herrenhauser Garten - a slightly maligned but much wanted Euro brug. A triple.
HG?HMMM?Get your scissors Liz an put on that coffee,:)
If you have clay soil the clay will hold to much water on the roots. I had that problem last year. I got to wondering why mine wasn't doing anything so I dug one up and the root ball was sitting in a pond of underground water. I moved some of mine to a raised bed and then this past year moved them to the other side of the house where I didn't have so much red clay. They did a lots better. They love water but not constant water on the roots.