Why the dormant season is the best time to plant

Plant a tree in July and you ask it to do three jobs at once: settle its roots, keep its leaves alive and cope with the heat. Plant it in November and it can concentrate on the roots alone. That is the simple reason why bare-root trees — lifted from the nursery field while dormant and sold without soil around their roots — are planted between autumn and early spring, ideally from late October to mid-March.

As a rough guide, the colder and more northerly your site, the earlier you want to finish. Avoid planting when the ground is frozen solid or standing in water; on heavy clay, wait for a drier spell. Bare-root trees are cheaper than potted ones, establish faster and come in a much wider range of native species. Order early, plant as soon as they arrive, and keep the roots damp in a bag or bucket of water in the meantime. If a tree turns up before you are ready, heel it in temporarily in a spare patch of soil rather than leaving it lying about.

Choosing a tree that will actually thrive

Match the tree to the ground, not the other way round. Alder and goat willow cope with wet, boggy corners. Silver birch and rowan like light, acid soils. Field maple, hawthorn and blackthorn will shrug off heavy clay and exposed, windy sites. If you want wildlife value, native species are hard to beat: pedunculate oak, hazel, wild cherry, crab apple, guelder rose and dogwood all earn their keep.

Think about the space you have in ten, thirty and a hundred years. An oak may want eight metres or more between trunks; a mixed hedge wants plants 30–45cm apart in a double, staggered row. Before you buy, ask the nursery where the seed came from — British-grown stock of local provenance tends to settle in best. Whips of 60–90cm are the sensible starting point: cheap, easy to carry, quick to establish and far less likely to suffer transplant shock than a large specimen.

Getting the ground ready

Competition from grass is the single biggest killer of young trees. Clear a square metre of turf or rough growth around each planting spot, skimming it off with a spade and stacking the turves upside down. On pasture, mow tight first so you can see what you are doing.

You do not need a deep pit. Dig a hole just deep enough for the roots to sit without curling, and about twice as wide as the spread of those roots. Keep the topsoil in one heap and the paler subsoil in another. If you are planting several trees, mark the spots with canes first so your spacing stays honest — roughly 2–3 metres for a small wood, wider for oak and other big-canopy trees.

Planting a bare-root tree, step by step

• Stand the roots in a bucket of water for an hour while you dig.
• Trim any broken or damaged roots with sharp secateurs, and cut back a damaged leader cleanly.
• Look for the soil mark on the stem from the nursery. That mark should sit at ground level when you have finished — never bury the root collar, the point where stem meets root.
• Build a small cone of topsoil in the hole, spread the roots over it and work fine soil between them.
• Backfill in layers, firming gently with the heel of your boot as you go. Firm, not compacted.
• Water thoroughly, even if rain is forecast, to settle the soil around the roots.
• Water again a day later if the soil sinks, and top up the level if needed.

Watering and mulching through the first summers

The first two summers decide whether your tree thrives or merely survives. In dry spells, give each tree 10–15 litres a week, poured slowly at the base rather than sprayed over the leaves. On sandy or shallow soils over chalk, double that and water little and often.

Then mulch. Spread a ring of well-rotted compost, bark chippings or leafmould 5–8cm deep and about a metre across, keeping it 10cm clear of the trunk so the bark stays dry and disease-free. Mulch holds moisture, suppresses weeds and slowly feeds the soil. Never use fresh manure, which can scorch roots, and never let mulch mound up against the stem. Top the ring up each spring and pull out any grass or weeds that creep in.

Protecting your tree from grazing and damage

Young bark is a delicacy. Rabbits and hares will ring a whip overnight, so fit a spiral guard to about 60cm. Mice and voles gnaw at ground level beneath long grass — keeping a clear, mulched ring is the simplest defence. Where deer are about, you will need a 1.2m tree shelter or proper fencing. Livestock will rub and browse anything within reach, so plant behind a stock fence or use individual guards.

• Stake only if the site is windy or the tree is tall; a short stake low down lets the trunk flex and thicken.
• Use a soft, adjustable tie and check it every year — ties that bite into bark do lasting harm.
• Leave rabbit guards and shelters in place until the canopy clears the top, then remove them.
• Keep a mulch ring around the base to protect against strimmer and mower damage.

Trees are patient things. Get the planting right, keep the grass off their roots, water them through those first two summers and protect the bark, and you will have given them the best possible start — a small act now that will still be standing when you are not.