Planting Italian Cypress Trees In A Drive Way

Question

I have dug out the top gravel and the base layer scalpings of the drive to reveal the earth underneath, around 400mm deep, which is still rather stony, I am at the right depth for the trees which are 2.7m tall not including root ball, the earth is compacted so the trees sit solidly. My question is what should I back fill the trench/hole with? Should this be fresh top soil or what would be the recommendation? Would fresh top soil prevent root growth into the natural earth under the root balls? There is a pile of earth and stone with a little scalping which came out of the trench/hole could I use that to back fill or maybe a mixture of that and fresh top soil?

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Answer 1

Definitely, use topsoil, though I would dig a much larger bed and fill the whole thing with topsoil. You may find that the trees perform, poorly, in that rocky soil.

Here are some articles that will help:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/italian-cypress/growing-italian-cypress-trees.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/organic/the-importance-of-soil-for-an-organic-garden.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/using-topsoil-and-potting-soil.htm