so, i went to add in some compost into my garden bed and as i work the soil i unearthed a root soon i find that the whole bed has tonnes of roots in every square food of it. I use my fork to till the soil, breaking put the roots and riping most of them out. they are small fine roots but were everywhere. doesn't seem normal, or is it?
If they are not strangling each other, or other plants as a weed does, you may want to consider leaving them. They contain moisture, and put out sugars and other things that call a lot of biodiversity into the area. This is a ready made biodome that your garden could flourish in. There are conditions like too much water loss and some trees like black walnut hate competition so much they have learned to poison the area for competitive reasons - but - it might save you a lot of labor if you find a path to coexistence.
Feeder roots of trees, old grass roots, roots of weeds no longer there, even non-weeds that are no longer there. You will find them especially if you are repurposing part of an existing lawn or older garden for you own use.
You have an interesting perspective @Dirtmechanic . I thought tree roots only helped their own kind....trees on the same species? I once tried to garden under a couple of maple trees. Big mistake! Nothing did well there. But then maples are notorious for having particularly shallow roots. Another culprit are magnolias. @adam.ca I would find out what kind of roots these are. If they are from a shallow rooted tree, I would suggest not using the bed for veggies. Plant something else there.
I understand above ground roots! These maple are in front of our home. Still, maples are not nearly as bad to me as magnolia, and inasmuch as they steal so much sun, trimming them up a bit really helps the understory! The shade certainly goes over the roots.
Hi Adam, when we moved here 11yrs ago the garden was a brewery yard of fruits, all that was shifted but underneath the dirt, well omg it was full of roots going one way or another different sizes and some needed sawing, we've got loads of different tree's around here besides conifers and they flourish in sun and shade.
Those are beautiful maples @Dirtmechanic. Do you happen to know what kind they are? Did you limb them up? I also like the red foliage bush. Nice contrast with the maples & the grass. BTW have you read The Hidden Life of Trees?
Silver maple planted by the original owner of my home some 30-40 years ago. I was actually out there limbing on the middle one because it was determined to drive a adolescent dogwood into the ground like a nail. The poor dogwood was spreading out sideways like burmuda grass, so I was trying to both make some headroom for the dogwood while improving its sunlight. No, sad to say, I have not read the book you mentioned. I actually started my interest in gardening with works on soil. I am fairly comfortable with roots, and have become more aware of the meristem generally. I thought it best to start at the bottom and work my way up so trees are actually last on my list, though my home is so covered in them you cannot see house nor driveway hardly on google maps. Big fun in bad weather!
it might be a good thing? this is music to my ears! it might be the huge cedar hedge which is about 20-30feet away from the garden bed. or maybe it's from one of the bigger trees in my neighbor's yard ( which are ~50 feet away...) there is 1 or 2 other small/young tree or shrub things along the fence next to the garden. either way i'm not growing anything other then veg in the back yard so i'll have to make due. I hope @Dirtmechanic is right and it might actually be helpful in some ways. was looking at videos and one guy suggested digging a trench and cutting any big tap roots you find, marking the spot with a stick so you can dig it up the following year and cut the new root again. a huge amount of work, that I would prefer to avoid. for now, I broke up and ripped out the roots a bit. and have already dumped bags of compost and planted some veggies ( lettuce, broccoli and peas )
When I have to do that, I find wasting a long sawzall blade on dirt worth the 2 bucks. A container of rock salt in the cut will wash away over the years but nothing will want to grow there during that time.
If they are all very fine roots,, likely its grass from the lawn ! What grass was there before the vegetable beds ? You can just leave them there and cut them where you can and toss any big clumps !