in our rock hard clay i have foudn the easiest way is to run a soaker hose in the area for a couple days before you plan on digging by hand. just turn it on low and let it run. then the day before turn it off. next day the soil is dry enough not to be a mud hole, but damp enough to dig easily. it may take a few times to get the flow right, too much water and you have a muddy mess and not enough and you wasted the water. the trick is to do it slow enough that it does not run off. toolwise, i use a pick axe, a shovel and an old post hole digger. my PHD is not the squeeze type, it is an auger that you turn to dig the hole. it has a T-handle on it and you just spin it down. when we put up a fence at work several holes had to be hand dug due to proximity to underground utilities. i could dig 2 holes to 1 against the guys using the squeeze type PDH.

Use a pot-in-pot system. - Dig a hole for a pot that will hold the growing pot. - Plant as desired, then set that pot into "ground-pots" - Through the season, rotate the growing pot at least a quarter turn to ensure that roots don't root into the underlying native soil. Here's how it's done commercially. http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/crops_livestock/crops/nursery_crops/Potinpot+Nursery+Production.htm Here is a link that might be useful: pot-in-pot system

I've used a soldering iron for years and love it. I try to prep the majority of my containers in the fall, so I can do this outside because of fumes. A few times, I have needed to prep containers inside in winter and just didn't feel like using the steak knife (several close calls with that darn thing). So I open a window, put a fan up and heat up the soldering iron, cringing the whole time about the heat I'm wasting, (can't believe I actually put a fan up to blow my heated air OUT of the window!) trying to work as fast as I can, and thinking how my DH would kill me if he saw me. But I got caught once. Hours later, my daughter came home, took one step in the door, sniffed, and said with a confused look on her face, "Who was blowing out birthday candles in here?" So I don't risk it anymore, lol. Back to the steak knife if I don't have enough fall-prepped containers! :) Dee

The thought process of managers of nurseries and greenhouses, and plant "professionals" that take care of the indoor potted plantings of others are often conflicted between the good of the plant and the good of the bottom line, with the plant most often ending up on the short end of the stick. It simply doesn't make good monetary sense to spend the time it takes to nurse one or 2 declining plants back to health unless all it entails is a change in watering practices, a quick remedial spray of plant medicine, or a shot of fertilizer. Even potting up is often ignored or the plant allowed to progress to the state of root congestion where it's too late for potting up to be of much value. Even this seeming oversight is reviewed and decided upon based on whether or not it makes economic sense. Example. You can pot up indefinitely to larger pots without the plant being forced to endure limitations associated with root congestion if you pot up before the roots reach a state where the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact. What the grower with plants not yet pot bound weighs is this: It will cost me X amount of dollars for new containers, soil, and labor to pot up, and even though I know I will have healthier and larger plants to sell, will I be able to recoup my costs. If yes, then the grower will make the expenditure and pot up, if no, he'll hope the plants stay healthy enough to sell. Most often, this would be a decision made by nurseries as greenhouse ops already have a plan in place to pot up from plugs to to increasingly larger pots. For rootbound plants, and even though it's in the best interest of the plant to repot (includes soil removal, root pruning, correcting problem roots), it will almost certainly not even be considered because of the time expenditure involved. The difference between the knowledgeable hobbyist and the plant "professional" is in the fact that the hobbyist's primary focus is usually on the plant's best interest, rather than the bottom line. The primary difference between potting up and repotting is, one completely eliminates limitations associated with root congestion and the other ensures the limitations will remain until such time as the plant is no longer viable, or someone actually gets their hands in the root mass and corrects the problems. Al