Raised Beds Below Sorbus
Patrice from Penn Valley, CA writes in to ask two questions. The first about invasive roots in her raised beds; the second about her dying lavender:
“Hello, And thank you!!!! We created raised beds from rock on our property in a clearing with a 7 foot deer fence. We have a few fruit trees but mostly veggies. All organic and started with a wonderful organic/compost soil. THe first year good and then the next 2 not so good. This year when I clean the beds it is full of small roots. It is like a Potted plant if you take it out to replant and all the roots are there. It is not that bad but pretty bad and we had to take out lots of roots this fall and added more soil but the plants are all stunted and no production. We tested the soil and amended correctly and still no luck. We have some large oaks on a couple of edges of the garden and I read that the send their roots. Is that a problem? Any suggestions?”
Patrice, first, thank you for writing in.
Second, It is difficult for me to assess this without seeing/touching it. However, given your description, my guess is that the Oak Trees or possibly other nearby shrubs and trees are sending their roots into your raised beds. In my own raised strawberry bed, I find roots from my neighbor’s Sorbus every year. Tiny tree roots within the first 18″ of the soil are critical to trees; they are the ones that take up water and nutrients. Removing these can make it hard on the tree. Did you encounter a lot of roots when you built the raised beds themselves?
Third, could it be that the plants you’re installing in the raised beds are actually becoming root-bound within it? Did you take rocks and create an outline for a raised bed, or did you actually build planters of some sort into a rock area? If you built a planter of some sort into rocks, you could have created a pot/container effect which can lead to this root build up problem.
Let me know if you have more thoughts about this or questions I can answer.
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Ten Year Old Provence Lavender with Sage & Rosemary
And, Patrice’s second question about lavender:
“Also many of my lavenger grosso have died and it is hot and dry in these sierra foothills so they are on a drip system. Do you think too much water which I find hard to believe?”
Lavender do like to run pretty dry. Once established, they should need very little supplemental water. That being said, they can dry out if they don’t get enough water. Are yours getting soggy and black? If so, it could be that you’re providing too much water. Also, I have found that lavender falls into that “short-lived-woody-perennial” category. Yes, they will live for years and years, but after about 5-7 they often get leggy and might be worth replacing in the garden. Of course, that depends on your care program, your lavender cultivar, and tolerance of how plants look and perform in the garden. In my own garden I have one lavender that looks fantastic every year, and it has been in the same place for at least 10 years now.
Thanks again for writing in. Please let me know if you have follow up questions or thoughts.
