Turfing up to sunken birch trees- raising soil by how much?
Tom@Gardenersworld
Posts: 2
Hi all,
I planted 3 Himalayan Birch 2 years ago. They were about 9ft tall when we got them. They came bare rooted and we today removed the stays, as per guidance from the nursery.
50cm around trunk, weed suppressing mesh was laid (removed today) and we are now wanting ideally to turf up to the trunk.
Reading on this; gaseous exchange needs of roots means one should not layer soil deeply over planting level.
I read though that we can make a sandy(airy) mix of soil and layer this gradually, inch per year??? Up to 3 inches?? Lots of differing info on this...
Then seed lawn in this 'airy' soil?
Or.....We could lower the ground around the trees!?
They are in a slightly higher corner of the garden. I could remove turf, remove 3- inches of soil and lay new turfs- obviously a lot of work...but this would mean we only add a turf over the 1m circles around the trees, rather than anything deeper. The problem with this would mean that the kids would (immediately) start to play/ride right across the trees previously protected planting area- given that we today removed the supports...
What to do, please?
Posts
As long as you don't pile up the soil up the trunks they should be OK. Three inches should be alright.
Thanks for your reply.
It's difficult to know if what others warn about is likely to mean problems in every situation; we would be blocking the movement of air to surface roots which some say is a bad idea.
Have you done this to trees and 'gotten away with it'?
Suppose I am hoping for a spread of responses with about 75% saying (as you have) that turfing+soil would not hurt...
Maybe more will read and respond....
The turf will contain air/oxygen and as long as it doesn't become over-wet and compacted the roots should be fine. Encourage worms in your lawn to keep it aerated
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.