As I have indicated in previous posts, I plant my roses in containers because it is so difficult to grow them in the ground. However, I have tried to plant a few in the ground. It is easy to create a 2' wide hole but digging a 2' deep hole is a challenge. I can usually dig 15" or so before I hit blue rock. Is this depth good enough or should I stick to using containers.

I don't even go that deep here. I would need a backhoe for that due to the heavy clay. 15 inches is plenty.

15 inches sounds pretty good. I can get to about 18 inches here before I hit lake bed clay.

I do dig to 2 feet but I do have to use a backhoe due to the clay. It makes me think twice about every plant I purchase. I hit clay after 6 inches.

Thanks everyone. I just finished my first 18" hole and planted Leonardo da Vinci. which is one of two roses that have never bloomed. Ok Ok! Maybe the hole wasn't EXACTLY 18"

Who told you to dig a two feet hole? You're supposed to dig a hole large enough to accommodate the roots of the plant and that obviously varies. Do you dig 2' deep for pansies too?

Sometimes my holes aren't big enough even for the roots!! I just shove them in there, mound the soil and mulch around them and say a quick prayer hoping it works. Next time I may well have to call a friend of mine and have him bring his backhoe over. I'll figure out how to repay him if I ever do that.

Arico said:Who told you to dig a two feet hole? You're supposed to dig a hole large enough to accommodate the roots of the plant and that obviously varies. Do you dig 2' deep for pansies too?

I can't tell you who told me to dig a 2' hole for roses. The person is now in the American Witness Protection Program and his identity has been changed to protect him from angry roses growers.

I'm having this problem with my alley where I'm going to plant my roses, very hard to dig, it's all rock, it has been storing junk in the last 6-7 years. I can only do 6 inches easily, I might top them up. I'll do my best and we will see if the roses will survive.

If you have a pitchfork, use it to penetrate that hard area, and move the tines back and forth so the roots can more easily grow into that area. You could also plant it into a heavy duty mulch pot 12" X 12" with good potting soil, and place it on top for the roots to eventually grow into the soil beneath it.

Oops, I don't use a backhoe. I use a mattock. I thought they were the same thing 😳

When I lived in New England, a mattock was the only tool that could conquer the rocky soil.

when I moved to my new home i discovered there was about 6 inches of top soil and clay soil with rocks underneath. I dug down and chipped away at the clay soil about 1 foot. Than mixed in some compost and perlite. After completing that process, I added railroad ties/landscape ties around each garden bed. Finally, I had a mixture of topsoil and compost brought in to fill in each elevated garden bed. The elevated bed created or added about an extra 10" of good soil depth. Each time I add a new plant, I dig the hole and add water to test for good drainage. If it does not drain well, I know I have to dig deeper and wider.

Very funny, Hiyamakki. I think we've all done that.

Hiyamakki said:Oops, I don't use a backhoe. I use a mattock. I thought they were the same thing 😳

I admit that years ago, I thought a hoe was called a backhoe, because you had to pull it back. I've never
told that to anyone. David

I need to comment re digging a 2' x 2' hole for roses. With regards to clay, the bigger the hole the more water will collect and no roots like to sit in water. It could be better to have a shallower hole and build up with compost etc on top so plant is raised a little.

I have seen Rose Books that say 2 by 2 but I generally try to go 16 by16 , { deeper if replanting old roses } as that way if two roses are planted side by side the trunks are at least 16 inches apart. (I use the length of he head of a sand shovel as a ruler most often.)
I have gone less and I have gone more, hole size have never been the problem.
The rare cases after planting it just does not look right , I redo it.

mrsbee111 said:I need to comment re digging a 2' x 2' hole for roses. With regards to clay, the bigger the hole the more water will collect and no roots like to sit in water. It could be better to have a shallower hole and build up with compost etc on top so plant is raised a little.

Absolutely not. The last thing you need to do is incoorporate organic matter into a planting hole. Just backfill with what you dug out and mulch the surface.

Adding a raised mound of compost (or anything else than the original soil) creates a textural difference which water has a hard time crossing (because of physics). That means water going IN, but also OUT aka draining away. You're MORE likely to drown your rose if you do this in clay soil.

I've been doing exactly that, I've yet to drown out any of my roses, nor my peonies. I'm all clay here, but I'm in California.

mrsbee111 said:I need to comment re digging a 2' x 2' hole for roses. With regards to clay, the bigger the hole the more water will collect and no roots like to sit in water. It could be better to have a shallower hole and build up with compost etc on top so plant is raised a little.

I may or may not use (bagged) compost but do use either garden soil not from the rose garden (I have good soil) or buy some bags of good garden soil and bags of cow manure.