What do I fill large holes if I want to plant trees in them come spring?

Don't know if this is a good place to post this, but whatever. It is the start of October here in central Texas, and I got four huge holes (roughly 4 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep) to fill in hopes of planting some cherry, plums, and apricot trees in spring. The holes are so big because I live in a very rocky area, and wanted to the trees to have room to grow. I had five holes I dug years ago and made the rookie mistake of filling them entirely with bagged garden soil, so, obviously, they heated up from composting and I couldn't plant anything for three years. My questions are thus; what should I fill these holes that is both decently rich with nutrients, but wont start composting? I am less concerned with settling soil because I can mitigate that by filling it a little at a time and compacting it with a tamper as well as mounding to account for potential sinking and decomposition of the soil, but the heating of the soil is a non-starter. I do not want to wait three more years to plant my fruit trees. Ill post this around to get other opinions, but what say yall?

Posted Oct 7, 2025, 2:37 AM UTC

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