I am in the midst of clearing a portion of our yard for a shade garden. There are quite a few trees, (hence the shade---duh), but most of those are in the grassy area. Some of them are close together and I don't like mowing between them. I was thinking of making a planting area under them, but not sure how much soil I can safely put around the trunk of the tree. The soil right around the trees is pretty root filled, so I don't know that I could just plant without using a raised garden technique. So, how much soil can I safely put around the base of the trees? I will post a pic when I get the area cleaned up.
Thanks for your help and sorry for the rambling.