[greetwellboy]

I was thinking of putting some raised beds in my borders, The ground has a lot of roots from nearby trees,I have taken some out,but it would be difficult to plant anything there.
So my Q is, how deep would the bed have to be?. I have planks of wood 6 inches high, is that sufficient??.Thanks,,,Dave.

[mumofstig]

Talking from experience, the tree roots will grow up into the bed - so you will have to water and feed like mad, cos you'll be feeding the tree as well 

The other option is to close the bottom so that in effect the bed is a large pot....I think it would need to be about 10/12 ins deep so will take a lot of filling!

[greetwellboy]

Thanks, never thought of the roots coming up,I will put a base on it.
And make it 10-12 inches high, cheers.

[Goosegirl]

You could chop the tree roots off around the border of your bed so they don't grow up into it? It will depend on the type of trees too as to what roots they have i.e. big and thick or fibrous ones. Your drainage holes should be ok for these roots not to grow up in them too. Is the soil drainage good? If your planks are 6" high, about 1" will be in the ground, giving you 5" bed height. I don't know what kind of plants you want in them, but this height should be ok for annuals; perennials and shrubs will need it a bit deeper, so it depends on how many planks you have as to whether you make it one or two high. If you just make it one plank high and it is too shallow, you could always add another later on.

[mumofstig]

pruning tree roots only seems to make them grow more vigorously, same as pruning top growth - well it did here.
It was a cherry tree, in the end I had it cut down and the stump was injected to stop regrowth.
It has made such a big difference to the veg beds 

[ryetek]

pruning tree roots only seems to make them grow more vigorously, same as pruning top growth - well it did here. It was a cherry tree

Cherry trees are notorious for this. As you've discovered you can chop them up as much as you like and they just grow back more vigorously even if you chop them to the ground level.

[fatcat1955]

Would the bed's not be shaded by the tree's? Restricting what could grow there.

[RichardA]

I have a willow tree about 12 foot from  my smallest greenhouse, the beds are about 3 foot deep as they are raised up off the floor and used for carrots etc mainly. The willow roots are all over the beds having come in under the GH foundations and I cut out lots every time I dig. The roots follow the nearest route (sorry!) to the best water and feed
R

[shokkyy]

My garden is half an acre and the whole boundary is full of very old oak, ash, willow and conifer trees, as well as a mixed hedge with plenty of wild cherry, hazel and hawthorn in it. I doubt if there's a square inch of my garden that doesn't have at least some tree roots in it, and quite a lot of it has a bit of shade too. But I have flower and veggie beds all over the garden and most things seem to do very well, weather permitting. If a bit of root gets in the way or a branch is casting too much shade I chop it off, but otherwise things seem to coexist quite happily.

[greetwellboy]

I have now made the raised beds,filled it with a mixture of top soil,sharpsand,and home made compost.Like to put in perennials.
Now another Q.Can I put some in now,I was looking at jumbo plug plants online.
Or would I be better off buying seed,raising them myself and plant in the spring.
Was thinking of maybe hollyhocks,lupins,rudbeckia,and phlox.
Any other ideas??.Cheers.

Not much of a flower gardener,I like my veg plot.
And I have been ignoring the flowers,so I am getting ear ache of her indoors to do something about it.

[Trillium]

The plants you mentioned are perennials which are often started this year for next year's flowering, so by all means buy the plugs and get them in.

[Goosegirl]

As a caveat - make sure you buy from a good supplier - some maybe recommended on here, some are not. I like Jersey Plants as their plugs are very good quality and are p+p free. Don't know about the postage for bigger ones.

[angelavdavis]

I was thinking of putting some raised beds in my borders, The ground has a lot of roots from nearby trees,I have taken some out,but it would be difficult to plant anything there.
So my Q is, how deep would the bed have to be?. I have planks of wood 6 inches high, is that sufficient??.Thanks,,,Dave.

I hope you have better luck than I did in my garden.  It had mature trees in the garden when I bought the house.  I decided to have a veg garden and, having stripped off the turf, discovered the tree roots, so built raised beds about 18 inches high. 

They did well for three years, then I found that I was digging deep and cutting back the tree roots which had decided to fill the beds.  Despite doing this year on year, I gave up three years later when it was clear the tree roots were robbing the beds of nutrients and water, so the crops were suffering.

Thankfully, I was at the top of the allotment list by this stage and was offered a plot locally.

[sunshineband]

I was thinking of putting some raised beds in my borders, The ground has a lot of roots from nearby trees,I have taken some out,but it would be difficult to plant anything there.
So my Q is, how deep would the bed have to be?. I have planks of wood 6 inches high, is that sufficient??.Thanks,,,Dave.

I hope you have better luck than I did in my garden.  It had mature trees in the garden when I bought the house.  I decided to have a veg garden and, having stripped off the turf, discovered the tree roots, so built raised beds about 18 inches high. 

They did well for three years, then I found that I was digging deep and cutting back the tree roots which had decided to fill the beds.  Despite doing this year on year, I gave up three years later when it was clear the tree roots were robbing the beds of nutrients and water, so the crops were suffering.

Thankfully, I was at the top of the allotment list by this stage and was offered a plot locally.

This sounds remarkably like the experience we had at our previous house. The pristien and initially productive raised bed at the end of our garden was invaded by plum tree roots, which rapidly became a force to reckon with. Got all allotment. (Not the same one, as now as we have moved since then)