Raised bed lining?

Emptyheadtime · October 2023

Suggestions please.
I have a raised bed, 5m x 1.2m and about a foot high. Over the years (about 15) it has been a salad/ strawberry bed but the timber has rotted away so it is time to be replaced this winter. The problem I have is the last few years it has become full of tree roots from the nearby conifer and birch tree. There are so many roots you need a spade as a fork won’t do it. About 3 years ago I dug out the soil and lined it with a cheap weed membrane but the roots are getting through this to the point I now need to dig out the soil each year and remove the roots before I can plant anything.
Any suggestions how to prevent the new bed filling with tree roots again? I am thinking a thicker liner such as a pond liner but I would need to add drainage holes to stop it getting waterlogged and would the roots not just come in again via the holes? Do I add a thick gravel layer underneath to discourage root growth?

JennyJ · October 2023

I don't think you can stop tree roots from making their way into the nicest bit of soil they can find, you can only slow them down a bit, particularly from underneath because root barrier material would, as you say, impede the drainage. Long term solution would be to get rid of the trees, but that's a bit drastic and I assume you want to keep them. Maybe putting deep root barriers at the sides nearest each of the trees would slow down the root invasion. I'm thinking the stuff that's sold for containing bamboo roots, google says it's 0.5 or 0.6 metres deep.

floralies · October 2023

Do you have room to create a raised bed elsewhere away from trees?

Raised bed lining?

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