Question
Dear Ms. Gerette,
  Help! My wife is away, and wants me to plant this rose bush in a particular spot. The spot is clay, and very hard. I cannot afford to rent a jack hammer. What I want to know is this. If I dig a hole and fill the hole with decent soil, would the plant have a better chance at life if I dug the hole narrow and deep, or wide and shallow? (I can't dig it wide AND deep; the work would give me a heart attack.) By the way, the sunlight is no problem. It will get enough sun.

Thank you for any help you can give me.

Sincerely,
Reg Reid (from the red clay land of Anderson County, Texas)

Answer
Dear Reg-

I have the same problem - heavy clay soil.  What you need to do is put a sprinkler on the spot you want to dig, and let it water that spot for 30 min. to 1 hr.  If clay soil is wet - it is extremely easy to dig in.  You can do this the night before or just before you dig.

You want to dig a hole at least 2-3 times the size of the root ball.  This will give the rose a lot of room for the roots to grow.  When the soil is wet - trust me - it is a lot easier to dig.  At least 2 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep hole is the minimum size hole.  If you don't want to dig that deep - go to Lowes and get some estate blocks - and build a slightly raised bed.  Stack the blocks around the rose, and fill in with rose soil or garden soil.  That way you could get away with digging only 1 ft. deep perhaps (or even lay the rose on top of the soil if the raised bed is high enough).

Hope this helps-

Carlene
aka the Flowerlady