Sounds like a good plan. A couple of suggestions I have found: Since camellias are surface root plants it is better to dig a wide shallow hole than a deep one. If you purchase the plants in containers, unweave the deepest roots and spread them out. If the ground is flat, plant high. Try not to bury the top of the root ball. Then mulch well all around. The idea is to keep the plant from ever sinking below grade, while letting the roots spread out.

Don't give them Miracid now! It's a high nitrogen fertilizer, they will start growing when they should be going dormant. They could drop all their buds or worse.

You can give them a 0-10-10 or maybe even a 2-10-10, because the phosphorus and potassium (the P and the K) will help the roots and the buds grow.

Get a test kit if you are not sure of your soil pH. At my local nursery, they are 5 bucks. If you have really alkaline soil, you will need to amend it. The tests usually have instructions for doing so. I have alkaline soil and I use soil sulfur and mulched bark.

Even if your soil is not in the 6-6.5 range that camellias prefer, they will still probably be OK, but they will not do very well in extremely alkaline (7.5-8.0) soils unless you amend them with acidic stuff like mulched bark (fir and pine) - much preferable to peat moss which will break down too fast. You could also use oak leaf mold.

Alkaline soil, if you have it, will not kill them right away, but they will have a hard time taking up nutrients like iron, even though there may be plenty in the soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bloom season camellia care

Hello, Michelle. I will add a few other things to what the others said...

On newly planted small camellia shrubs, I set my drip irrigation to run for one hour, which provides 1 gallon of water. In your case, try to determine how much time is needed for the soaker hose to release 1 gallon of water and let it run for that amount of time when you water. In order not to water too much or too little, check the soil daily: insert a finger to a depth of 3-4 inches between the main trunk and the drip line; when the soil feels almost dry, water again. After about two weeks of doing this, you will notice that you are watering on a certain frequency, such as every two/three/four/etc days. Then set the soaker hose to water on that frequency and make it run as long as needed to deliver 1 gallon of water. Re-check moisture levels in this way any time that the temperatures change by 10-15 degrees and stay there. When the plant goes dormant in the Fall, you can reduce watering further (say once a week or once every two weeks) but not all the way down to zero. Water during dry winters as long as your soil does not freeze. To conserve water and to water less often, keep the plants well mulched with 3 or 4 inches of acidic mulch; hardwood mulch is fine if no acidic mulch is available at the nurseries.

Newly purchased plants probably do not need fertilizing as the nursery already added fertilizer into their pots/containers. These look like little colored BB-gun shells. So instead of trying to feed them now, just water them well when you plant them. As forestall said, planting them about 1" above the surrounding soil is fine.

Contrary to what commercial fertilizer companies would want you to do, camellias should be fertilized sparingly as they are not hungry feeders like roses. You can begin 3-4 fertilizer applications after your last average late frost in Spring all the way until when the flower buds begin to swell; basically this translates to: from March/April through early September. The American Camellia Society recommends using some cottonseed meal, although a general purpose slow release NPK Ratio 10-10-10 fertilizer will also work well. Apply a dusting of the fertilizer and then water. Do not try to mix the fertilizer with the soil as camellia roots are fibrous and are located near the topsoil.

If your soil is not naturally acidic then you will also need to amend the soil now and then . Your goal should be to keep the soil's pH Level acidic or close to neutral. Your nearby/local nurseries should be able to tell you if the soil where you live is acidic or alkaline. pH kits are also available at the big stores to sample on your own; they give approximate readings and can be used often. Soil tests will give you more accurate results but these should only be done every 3-5 years.

Camellias grow best in acidic soil but will tolerate some alkalinity. However, if the alkalinity becomes too high then the shrubs begin to show signs of iron chlorosis, a condition where the leaves turn light green while the leaf veins stay dark green. Liquid acidifying products with chelated compounds -available in most nurseries- can be applied to correct iron chlorosis. You can also add Soil Sulphur, Espoma's Garden Sulphur or Green Light Iron & Soil Acidifier (those are just a few examples). Those last three products have no nitrogen (NPK Ratio of 0-0-0) which is useful when you need to apply them during the winter. Should you need to use these, apply them in Spring when you fertilize; then observe if more is needed later in the year.

Does this help, Michelle?
Luis

One other note: I have found that camellia shrubs do best in well draining soil. So make certain the bed you plant yours in, do not remain as wet as most acid loving azaleas like.

A winter mulch of shredded leaves will reduce freezing of the ground, resulting in less winter burn.