If you need a lot, as in around a cubic yard or more, you can can get fill dirt delivered and you can also get it screened so there is no rocks or other debris. I've used it for raised areas and I like it a lot. You would want to go look at it first to make sure it's native soil and not something else. From the size of your crater, I'd imagine you'd need quite a bit of it. And just a word of warning, fill dirt is a lot easier to order than it is to get rid of it if you order too much.

Thanks quirky. I do think I need a yard or more. I am also doing some flower beds so any extra can go there.

I guess my question is whether fill dirt would be better than plain old topsoil is these circumstances. Is that what you're saying?

When I started this yard from scratch my biggest misconception was that dirt should be dirt cheap or free. Ha! Many dumptrucks later ... it takes dirt to plant well, to raise the tree up a bit and make a shallow well so it can get established. A delivery truck that can dump the dirt right where you want it is sweet. Otherwise, into the driveway, then wheelbarrow it to where needed. My driveway is now full so we go to a nearby landscape company and buy 4-way blend which we stuff into 5-gallon buckets (easy to simply scoop whole bucket from dirt slope). On a swamp here so had to raise whole 1/4 acre 2 feet to give trees a chance to breathe above very high water table, dense stinky clay underneath that was rototilled 1' before we started, so all the planting holes are essentially imported topsoil anyway.

It's more than worth it to buy good soil for your front yard. Just chop up the underneath clay first with a shovel to loosen it up and mix it with your bought topsoil.

dirt IS free ... that is what is on your hands ... your clothes.. your shoes ... carpet ... etc ....

we plant plants in SOIL .... and SOIL is never free ...

ken

So called 'top soil' is what you will shopping for, NOT fill! Then specifiy that you want something as close to a sandy loam as you can get, and make sure that it is screened. When it comes, if it's packed full of debris and rocks, don't accept the shipment. 'Top soil' is used generically when shopping for soil. Sort of like 'kleenex'.

Good point, Ken, and a lesson I've learned in spades! :^D

I don't know why anybody would want sandy loam.

I'll take the clay or clay loam any day. I grow bottomland trees not a vegetable or perrenial garden. For that you use topsoil. For structural grading you use fill dirt.
{{gwi:100439}}

Thanks, all for the input. I think I need to clarify my problem. As mentioned in other posts on this board, I konw that it is preferable to plant a tree in the same soil that exists in the rest of the yard. It could be particularly problematic to plant a tree in sandy loam (or any well-draining soil) that is filled into a clay hole, as the clay dirt will act as a bowl to trap the water and drown the tree roots. Am I right?

So I guess I'm wondering about the suggestions to get topsoil or sandy loam. Do I not need to worry about the "clay bowl" effect? Or is there something I can do to mitigate it? Or is the suggestion that I replace all of the soil in my yard? If the latter is the case, I should mention that I can't physically go about doing that, and I can't afford to pay anyone for a job of that magnitude.

Can one order clay soil from a nursery, and if so, is it preferable to go that route?

Sorry, but I'm completely confused now! Thanks for being patient with me.

I don't think you will have much of a problem with the existing dirt creating a bowl. By the time the roots get out that far they will be far enough from the trunk not to choke the tree. Also your deceased maple left plenty of roots in the ground which are rapidly deteriorating and creating paths for water to escape. I think as long as you plant the tree high enough (keeping in mind you could have some settling with a hole this big) the tree will be fine.

I agree with Rokoku.

As long as you look before you buy, AND before you let them unload the truck, top soil of whatever kind should be fine. The old tree will have left enough roots, which will have rotted before there is any problem, so there will be escape routes for water. I also agree with Rokoku, I think I would plant the new tree a little high though, to allow for any future settling. Pile the new soil up to and a little over the root ball, leaving the 2-4" right next to the trunk clear of new dirt. Mulching over the top of the rotball will "blend" it into the surrounding soil, but still remember to leave the area right next to the trunk clear.

OK, screened topsoil, plant it high. Thanks so much!

I would be concerned about it.
Not to be argumentative but a lot of the places around ehre that sell "topsoil" it has the texture of potting soil and consists of particles of debris I don't want in there. composted stuff which may be great for ggrowing garden plants but not necessary to fill a giant grater in your yard.

QQ is right in that some people do sell this odd mixture as topsoil, including a few around here. But that's why I suggested looking both before buyiong and before unloading. Whatever you get should LOOK like soil, not like potting soil.

If you can find for sale in your area, a good sandy loam topsoil, which is not on the too sandy scale, That should mix well with the topsoil dug out of your previous project.

I did the same thing with a friend when their Maple broke off in a storm, and after they wenched out the stump.

The native soil there is clay, and we planted a a 20 gallon potted, 3 trunked 'Tuscarora' crape myrtle in the middle, four White New Dawn roses around the tree which are pruned and wrapped to encircle the trunks. Then we planted a hedge of Dwarf yaupon 'nana' around the roses with hostas at their base.

That was three years ago, and it has surprised me to discover that friend has not encountered any drainage problems. Everything planted in the new bed has abundantly thrived.

Maybe the lack of drainage problems is due to the voids left in the soil when the Maple tree's remaining roots decayed.

Anyway, We used a full cubic yard of the best quality sandy loam topsoil we could find. First though we mixed gysumn into the clay around the hole. and then we layered the Sandy loam and more native soil into the hole. Near the top, we ran out of native soil so finished of the mounded bed with the sandy loam. The bed is watered with a soaking hose which circles around the tree and beneath the roses.

Neighbors often praise the way the landscaping in that bed appears, compared to when the Maple tree grew there with hostas beneath it.

Well, I had to make a decision so I ordered 3 yards of sandy loam from a reputable nursery in town. I will use some to create raised beds in front of my half-fence, and the rest will fill the hole, mixed in with what little native soil I have left. I will create a mound in the crater and plant the tree high, as advised above. I think I will also channel out some of the native soil in a couple of spots on the "rim" of the clay bowl on the downgrade, and replace it with the loam to allow for better drainage. Sound like a plan?

And thanks again for the responses.