William H.
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Joined: Sat May 21, 2016 6:08 pm

Root Help Needed

Hey. My name is William H. and I'm very new to gardening. I just recently weeded a raised bed me and my family have had for a while and I have a few questions. When I was weeding I noticed a tarp running along the side of the raised bed walls. Later when I was turning the soil with my cultivator it got stuck on the tarp about a foot under the ground. Water can get through the tarp but I'm worried the roots won't have enough freedom (particularly corn). I also would like any advice on picking soil. The plot is mostly full already but I'm still worried the roots could become swamped because of the chunky nature of the soil. I was thinking about adding some sand or gravel into the soil, is this a good idea? Once again still fairly new to gardening so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you for reading :mrgreen:

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

The roots of many of the garden plants go quite deep when grown in garden soil. 3 to 8 feet deep. Depends on the crop, soil type, and weather conditions. If growing in raised beds it is good to not put a root barrier, but let the roots have access to the ground underneath. .

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jal_ut
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Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Soil contains, clay, silt, sand, organic matter, water, and a host of microscopic living organisms. It can vary a bunch depending on where you found it and what its nature was. Organic matter (compost) is probably the best thing you could add to your soil. A little sand maybe, if its heavy in clay, but no gravel.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I agree, what Jal-ut says, you should be adding organic matter constantly. If the plants you have a growing well then they obviously have enough space, and even a tarp will decay over time and the roots will go through it. Some people put hardware cloth on the bottom of raised beds to keep critters out, but it is best to keep the bottom open for the roots and water to go down. Roots of some crops are pretty good at slowly infiltrating hard soils. A soil made up of different sized particles is better than a soil that has been screened because the irregular pieces of matter will help with aeration of the roots and there will be less compaction in the long run. The only exceptions I can think of are root crops like potatoes and carrots that don't like to run into immovable objects. Carrots prefer a soft sandy soil. Potatoes don't much care to run into rocks.



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