If they are just coming out of dormancy they've spent very little energy and roots are just beginning to grow. You can safely move them NOW! That drainage technique can't be what saved Dunca's trees IMO. They couldn't adequately pull water away, according to anything I've read on the issue. You need at least a French or curtain drain that pulls the water down hill to create affective drainage- there's a reason that the simplest method is consistently determined to be raised beds by anyone who spends their lives playing in soil. You may or may not benefit with some kind of amending but if you try to improve your soil best to stick with the top 4-6 inches by blending your native soil with black humus-like compost. You need to do this in a fairly wide area- at least a 5' diameter circle for each tree. If it's a raised bed, the entire bed's top 4-6" should be treated. This is not the same as pouring amendments down a planting hole and requires at least a quarter cubic yard of compost per tree to get any results. Remember to keep the improved soil on top and spread some of your trees roots in it as well as the pure clay beneath when you transplant. Mulch when done with 3-4" of arborist wood chips (for free). The idea that you can't improve clay with amendments is a confusion of research in my opinion. Adding some compost on top only speeds the process that is started by adding mulch anyway- the question is, is it worth the effort. Clay doesn't mix easy. It is worth the effort if the trees will otherwise languish- it all depends on the nature of your clay and how other trees are growing in it. The research saying amendments are futile is about dumping compost in the planting hole- at least the research I'm aware of.

I just bought a dwarf 'Pixie Crunch' apple tree, three Top Hat dwarf blueberry bushes, three Apache thornless blackberry bushes, and another more standard size but still pretty small blueberry that I can't recall the name of at the moment. Anyway, I got a steal of a deal on all of them other than the apple, which was about $55. But as long as it produces it will eventually pay for itself - I guess! Then again, I'm planting them more just for the pleasure of doing it, harvesting fruit that I know isn't full of insecticides and who knows what else, and as everyone has mentioned, the wonderful taste you get from home grown that you just don't get from store varieties. I also feel there is some stuff that is the same as the store, so why grow it unless you have unlimited time and space of course - and for the organic issues I mentioned above. I get nervous when all the fruit in the grocery store is from South America - do they use chemicals that are illegal in the US? But I'm on a small city lot and my space is at a premium so I want to plant the things I buy a lot and that cost a lot and where home grown makes a diff. In season blueberries aren't expensive, but still I love them and eat them every day, so why not grow them myself? The price of blackberries is just outrageous so growing my own will certainly save me money - and I only paid about $4 a plant on sale!! 3-4 packages of store bought would be more than that!! I'm nervous about the apple because I've never pruned or sprayed or anything like that so I don't know how much work it will be, but it's a dwarf plant about 5 feet tall so it shouldn't be tough. I hope? :) Everything is new so I won't get much of a harvest for a couple of years, but I'm looking forward to it!! Wish I had planted things a few years ago!! I have had a fig for about 4 years now and there's nothing like fresh figs!! I'm a "hobby" gardener too. But saving a bit of money and getting things fresh and chemical free is a good thing! Lisa

Blueberries are not nearly so picky about soil pH as many would have you believe. A slightly to moderately acidic soil is fine. There are a great many commercial blueberry operations located in this area (western WA and OR) - both growing plants for the nursery trade and fruit for consumers and the soil is only in the moderately acidic range - 5.5 to 6.5. In fact, a great number of acid loving plants occur naturally here, as well as a huge number of those grown for the nursery industry - blueberries, huckleberries, rhododendrons, most other broadleaved evergreen shrubs, Japanese maples, etc. Most plants have a relatively large range of soil conditions they will grow in, given the logarithmic scale of pH. Most plants will grow well and produce abundantly - all other soil factors being equal - in a pH of 6.0-6.5.

mad - sorry I didn't answer in Feb! Chill means it just doesn't get cold enough and stay cold long enough to make the trees go into hibernation and then burst with Spring. That's my opinion anyway - kinda like tulips - they have to be be chilled in order for them to bloom here and then our heat knocks them out so they won't come back next year. deanna - I have had great success with every pepper I have planted - from seed or seedling. One year my Corno di Toro were so prolific and I was so tired of canning, freezing and drying them, and begging the neighbors to take some!, that I ripped up the bushes, they just wouldn't stop. I think they even kept making peppers in the compost pile! As for tomatoes - check out Tomatopalooza. Hundreds of varieties. I'm growing 50 different ones this year and in past years another 50 different than those. I stay away from the hybrids (developed anywhere, even for NC) so that I can collect and share seeds of the open pollinated (heirloom) ones. The flavor range is amazing, and the colors on a plate are works of art. I do use insecticidal soap and pick off the hornworms. All of mine are caged because I've found slugs and stink bugs have more access to them when allowed to sprawl. However, my DH swears by Rutgers. Just the right size, red of course, and determinate so one week of picking is all he has to do for canning. I use other tomatoes for sauce and ketchup, paste and drying, for tomato preserves and for slicing fresh on a grilled portobello. So many flavors and uses - you have to try them all! Nancy the nancedar