How do I keep tree roots out of my raised beds?

whollydavesmith · December 2020

I have some raised beds for vegetables. This year the harvest was disappointing, and when I cam to clear the larger bed, I noticed that it was full of roots. These appear to have come from the trees on the other side of the fence, despite having weed control fabric in the bottom of the beds. The wet weather has probably been a factor too.

I am thinking that I am going to have to take the beds apart and start again, this time with a root barrier between the trees and the bed, which is going to make for a lot of unplanned for work.

Any tips would be very welcome! I don't know if there is an easy way of lifting the bed higher, and if so what to put under it? It's quite big, about 3 x 2 m

Wilderbeast · December 2020

@whollydavesmith we have a similar problem with a la he hedge robbing all the water and nutrients from some large perennial beds. We are slowly digging a 3ft deep but narrow trench laying a heavy gauge visqueen sheet in the trench and back filling with rubble. It's quite a task as we have nearly 40mt to do but it's made a huge difference. The roots don't run deep and they just stop they hit the barrier. Hard work but probably no different from emptying the raised bed and it actually gives a long-term solution

Lizzie27 · December 2020

We had the same problem so bought a roll of Terram, expensive stuff but worth it. Dug out our 3 raised beds to subsoil level, laid the Terram in the bottom, stapling up the sides of the wooden decking boards (3 boards high) then filling the beds again with returned soil, fresh topsoil and manure/sand/grit. It was long hard work but has made a difference. Our beds are 10 ft x 3 ft. Terram was £100 from memory.

How do I keep tree roots out of my raised beds?

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