Raised Bed

[blodau]

Good morning all.

I promised to pick your collective brains on behalf of a friend. She wants to build a raised bed in front of her fence in order to give herself some more soil depth. However, she already has a choysia and a ceonothus (apologies for spelling) in the bed. Will it upset them if their stems become partly buried when she adds more top soil?

Any thoughts?

[Chuckles]

It depends what you call partly buried Blodau I guess an inch ish would be no different to when a mulch is added, but I am guessing. If they are youngish or newly planted shrubs and have not settled thier feet in too much they could be dug up and replanted maybe, or if they are a bit more established would it be possible to get a fork in and slighlty lift them higher and at the same time sort of back fill so they are higher out of the ground.

Not sure if I'm making sense here possible talking a load of NooNoo, see what others have to say Blodau I'd hate to give you duff info ;D

[Amo]

I think that if they are established they could take quite a few inches, though I wouldn't risk more than 6 or 7!

You may even find that she has some layering going on and a bit of rooting after a couple of years. I know this has happened with an Aucuba japonica at the bottom of my garden where the neighbour has piled up grass cuttings. I had 7 free plants this year! ;D

[blodau]

Thanks both.

I think both shrubs are well established so it sounds as if they may be quite happy to be left in situ. I'll pass on your thoughts.

[fozzie]

Just a word of caution. It is well known in the developers/builders "trade" where TPO's can be a problem. As little as 6 inches will kill a tree of some many hundreds of years.

F