When it comes to planting trees in the backyard, our focus is all wrong

Moore says we need to lift our game. A healthy root system means that trees absorb more water and nutrients and are better anchored in the ground. One of the biggest misconceptions people have about tree roots, Moore says, is that they take the form of a “ball” and comprise a below-ground bundle roughly the same size as the above ground canopy. Instead, he describes root systems as being more like a shallow, spreading “plate” with most roots being within 300 millimetres of the soil surface and for some species, such as eucalypts, extending well beyond the length of the branches.

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“As soon as people see shallow roots, they start to get cheesed off. Roots start popping through the soil surface, and they want to do something about it. Well, get over it, that’s the way roots grow.”

Roots will grow where oxygen is available and there are nutrients, moisture and space. Another thing that make tree roots thrive is mycorrhizal fungi. In a fertile, healthy soil, these fungi look like fine cotton threads and they form intimate symbiotic relationships with plants, including trees, shrubs, groundcovers and grasses.

Mycorrhizal fungi provide trees, with nutrients, such as phosphorous and nitrogen, and effectively increase the absorptive surface area of their root system so that the trees grow better and more quickly. In return, the trees provide the carbohydrates that fungi require to grow.

What gardener doesn’t want that? “All in all, love your tree root systems, enjoy your mycorrhizal fungi, create great soil with plenty of air and a good mulch,” Moore says. “And you will have a legacy that will last 150 to 200 years.”

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