This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Raising a bed - replanting?
Louise9
Posts: 2
Hello,
I'd like to change my shrub bed down the outer edge of my lawn to a raised bed using railway sleepers. My husband it itching to get started on his DIY project but I'm concerned. He's of the opinion that we can leave the existing shrubs and add additional soil on top of them. Whilst I'd love to believe him (as it will be a really big job to dig them out) I'm thinking they will rot and die and must all be replanted at the new height if we they are to survive (and even then not all might survive).
Does anyone have any advice on this? The shrubs are mainly Photinias, Japanese Acers etc. and have been in the ground for 5 years.
Thanks and have a lovely day in your gardens,
Lou
0
Posts
It depends upon how much soil you'd need to add to the base of the shrubs, an inch or so won't do any real harm, but any more and I'd suggest digging them up.
Better a bit of hard work now to get it right, than watch them slowly die and you'll have to dig them up then and replace.
In the words of Roy on Coronation St, " if you fail to prepare, you should prepare to fail"
We are just doing exactly the same. Raising by about 6 inches. I've lifted all the herbaceous stuff and small shrubs but have removed lower branches from a fir tree and are hoping for the best.
we did the same last year with another border but all the big stuff was at the back where the soil was higher so they only had an inch or two of extra soil and have been fine.
Thank you for your help. I think practically we're going to raise the bed lower than we first anticipated to make it only 6 inches of extra soil and lift and replant those shrubs we can. Some are just very large and we'll have to keep our fingers crossed.
Thanks you for your advice. Very much appreciated.
Louise