Can I plant in soil that's been under weed control fabric?

[GungHo]

Hoping I can get some advice here as have tried a couple of other places with no luck.

About five years ago, I had my small front garden (about 15 feet by 15 feet) dug over and covered with weed control fabric, then layers of stone chippings on top.

But now I want to change it. I want to plant a small tree and some other bushes. To start, today I scraped the chipping away in the centre and cut a biggish hole in the weed control fabric. I dug out the hole.

The soil is very damp, dark, thick - clay-like. I left it to dry out a little this afternoon and it's gone crumbly.

My question is, if I dig the hole a bit bigger and maybe dig in some manure and compost, will a tree grow there (it's a small fig tree I have had in a pot for some time and needs potting on)

...or, will the soil be no good for growing plants? there were no worms. Maybe the soil is 'dead' after so long being under the fabric???

I really would appreciate some feedback. i have googled and googled but can't find an answer.
xx

In my limited experience of only planting conifer type shrubs through garden membrane, it's worked really well. You have to water regularly water them until they're well-established, but the green looks brilliant against the sandy gravel.

If you add plenty of organic matter it should be OK. In theory you can plant through weed control fabric, but I haven't had brilliant experience with it. Mostly because the weeds grew straight through it!

Over time you may need to give your tree fertiliser, as obviously the soil is not getting nourished. Mind you, figs do pretty well in very poor soil, so that may not be an issue.

Ok, thanks. I cut a hole in the fabric and dug down through the soil...just in case I didn't make that clear.

Will make the hole bigger and fill with compost and farm manure...then plant. Fingers crossed.

Good point about fig trees not needing amazing soil, but then we don't have same amount of sun as mediterranean countries blah etc. x