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- Newsgroups: rec.gardens
- Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!daffy!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!nuntius
- From: Bob Klebba <nicmad!klebba%astroatc.uucp@spool.cs.wisc.edu>
- Subject: Re: raised beds and maple roots
- Message-ID: <1993Jan25.202235.1935@nicmad.uucp>
- Sender: usenet@nicmad.uucp
- Nntp-Posting-Host: mac14
- Organization: Nicolet Instrument Corporation
- X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1
- References: <1993Jan22.145910.7389@icd.ab.com>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 20:22:35 GMT
- Lines: 26
-
- In article <1993Jan22.145910.7389@icd.ab.com> Patty Kowalski,
- kowalski@ganymede writes:
- >Two ideas: (1)try to dig out the roots (with rototillers?
- >saws?) so as to clear things out. Will this hurt the
- >trees and wont the roots just come right back? (2) Make
- >raised beds to plant in. Will it be "bad" for the house,
- >drainage-wise, to have a raised bed up against the house
- >(we have no basement or crawl space)? Will the roots grow
- >up into my raised bed, creating the same problem again?
-
- I used to have my compost piles under to a large silver maple. I found
- that in a year's time, the maple grew roots up 6" into the compost. I
- also double dug parts of my beds under the silver maple and found that
- after 2 years, the tree had totally invaded those double-dug areas - to
- the exclusion of the surounding unprepared areas.
- Gardens under maples have to be able to tolerate deep shade and dry and
- infertile soil.
-
- The first thing I did when I moved into my new house 2 years ago was to
- cut down all the silver maples on the property! I've found that it does
- not make a good firewood.
-
- Bob Klebba
- Madison, Wisconsin, USDA zone 4
- Inet: nicmad!klebba%astroatc.uucp@spool.cs.wisc.edu
- "Feed the soil, not the plant"
-