The Garden Community for Garden Lovers

Making acid raised bed

abenn

By Abenn

Hertfordshire, United Kingdom Gb

I understand how I can test and acidify my alkaline soil, and intend to make a raised bed for my lime-hating blueberry bushes (they're in pots at the moment).

But what happens if the roots of the bushes grow deeper than the acidified layer of soil? Do I need to put a liner at the bottom of my bed to prevent this, or will the roots just naturally turn back into the soil they like?




Answers

 

If you make the raised bed quite deep, you shouldn't have any problems. If you needed to, you could always give them a feed with Sequestrene in it, which helps acid-lovers. After all, they are bushes, not trees, so their roots are not all that deep.

2 Jul, 2008

 

Thanks, Spritzhenry. I was thinking to dig out 8"-or-so, and make the raised bed 8"-or-so high, giving a total depth of 16" of acidified soil. I know I will have to keep checking the pH, and I'll use ericateous feed, as I do now.

Just wondering if the plants will suffer if their roots so much as touch the underlying lime soil.

2 Jul, 2008

How do I say thanks?

Answer question

 


Related questions

Not found an answer?