Soak them in buckets several hours or days before planting. Then soak them in with a lot of water, over 5 gallons, to settle the soil. Don't tamp clay soil or even step on it when it is wet. Then mound the plants or spray with an anti-transpirant to prevent dehydration. Remove any white shoots that are exposed above the mound, as they will not survive in the sun.

The initial watering with last for 2-3 weeks in winter. When new growth appears through the mound (about a month), reduce the mound with a flow of water from the hose, or very carefully remove it by hand--new shoots are very fragile.

Young plants will use 2-3 gallons of water per week in spring, or twice that when they are 3 feet wide in hot weather. You can fertilize very lightly once they are leafed out.

As to soil preparation, best practice is to prepare the bed uniformly rather than deep holes with special soil. I dig 12" deep with a few inches of manure or finished compost (compost in the US sense, not UK sense). Alkaline soil may need a pH adjustment. Maintain a mulch of organic material 2-3 inches deep at all times. This will improve the soil over the years. Take great care never to compact the soil when it is wet.

This post was edited by michaelg on Tue, Jul 1, 14 at 9:55