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can I replant a Japanese Acer fro a pot to clay soil garden?

I dont have place on my patio anymore for a japanese acer pot and would like to plant it in the garden, I have clay soil garden and have used so much compost lately it seems to be working and think its time to plant up, is it poss

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1. Your best bet would be to plant the Acer palmatum in a raised mound or bed. Although you have amended the soil, the drainage is probably not quick enough for an Acer. Acer palmatum cannot stand to be in slow draining soil. I know this from experience.
2. rmbruff, above, is right.... so easy to drown an acer in clay soil!..... and when you use compost to ammend clay soil, it's a good thing, but over the years, the plants will 'use up' that compost and will then be sitting in plain clay again... UNLESS... you use compost on top of the soil as a mulch or under a mulch around the base of the tree.... the worms will take care of the mixing of the compost with the soil so the tree can use it best......the addition of fresh compost should happen in early spring and again in fall to bed it down for winter... just keep all mulch and compost about eight inches away from the trunk of the tree..... and do as rmbruff suggested and elevate the planting area some.... there's a root 'flare' at the place where the trunk joins the roots , and it should be up out of the soil just a bit..... if you bury that flare, the tree will suffer....and if it's not showing in the pot, and you put it in the ground up to the line it is in the pot, it won't do well.... so find the flare and expose it like these big trees are showing.... http://www.google.com/search?q=root+flare&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe= the worst thing that happens with Japanese acer and clay is that when we dig the hole, we , in effect, create a bowl that holds water..... must avoid that, as an acer can die overnight from drowning after a big rain with the 'bowl' holding all that water over the roots..... so, even tho we ammend the soil in the hole, if that area cannot drain, the tree is in danger..... depending on where you want to plant it, consider if the drainage in the worst rains is good enuff....
3. If you are sure that your acer is a type which must have ericaceous soil, then you can plant it out, but will have to do this in such a way that its needs for a low soil Ph and good drainage are met. I would recommend first, digging a really large hole for it, at least twice as deep and wide as the size of its present pot. Then make a mixture consisting of 1/3 horticultural grit (for the drainage), 1/3 ericaceous compost and 1/3 John Innes no.3. Add a good couple of handfuls of bonemeal as a slow release fertiliser. Mix it all up in a wheelbarrow and line the hole with enough to sit the tree at the correct height, ie where the soil in the pot comes up to at present. I would not advise adding any of your own garden soil to the hole. If the tree is rootbound when you remove it from the pot, free the roots which have wound round the inside of the pot and spread these out over the nice big hole you've made for them. If you leave them wrapped tightly round the base, they won't establish so well. If you can sprinkle Rootgrow on the roots at this stage, (mycorrizal fungi - get a packet from your garden centre, it really works,) the roots will grow away faster and more vigorously. Set the tree with the most attractive side to the front and gently infill with the new compost. Firm it down enough to secure the tree without unduly compacting the ground, and keep it well watered, if possible with rainwater when you can. In subsequent years the tree will benefit from an annual application of sequestered iron (Sequestrene) which will help to counteract the alkalinity of your garden soil and enable the acer to take up nourishment more easily. Also a mulch of good compost or well-rotted manure in Spring will give it a boost as it produces new foliage.