Yesterday morning I got out and played in the garden for a bit. I’ve been wanting to plant some fava beans (broad beans) and some snap peas but keep getting distracted by work and school and wind and the bees and…well…a million other things.
Of course, the yard is a mess. We’ve been working on several projects which usually means that everything gets torn up before it can get put back together again. Also, I still haven’t cleaned out the beds or prepped the for planting at all, so that had to be done before I could put any seeds in the ground.
While cleaning out this little bed in the backyard, I noticed a few roots…more like a few thousand roots…from our neighbors trees. Yep, they’ve grown up into the raised beds because that’s where the water is. Ugh. Well, we’re thinking that we’ll have to empty out the beds completely (there are two raised beds in the back right now) and try to create a barrier for the roots. Any ideas? We’re thinking a couple of layers of weed cloth stapled to the sides of the beds, but I’m not sure that will be strong enough.
Anyhow, I was determined to get some seeds in the dirt, so for now I simply tore up a ton of roots and threw some seeds in the bed . They all have a short season, so if need be, we can empty the bed once the beans and peas are done.
I planted favas, dwarf snap peas and some super sugar snap peas up against the wire trellis. I hope they all do well. I can’t figure out if I’m too early for the peas, or too late for the favas. I guess I’ll know in a few weeks, ha!?
Anyhow, below is a shot of the bed after I cleaned it out, stripped it of some roots and sowed a few seeds. Not too shabby 😉
Good luck, I love broad beans (fava beans) & sugar snap peas!
Thank you!!! I hope we love the favas, too 😉
I know your pain. I’ll be interested to know if the weed cloth option works as my side beds are full of eucalyptus roots and it drives me mad.
I’ll let you know, Liz! Sorry you’re having root issues as well!
Ugh…tree roots in the raised bed….You might want to try reinforcing the weed cloth with wire screening. Often hardware stores and/or door/window places will have scraps of screen that they will sell for cheap or just give you. That might provide a sturdy barrier. Good luck!
I’ve been thinking of reinforcing it with some wire mesh as well! Thanks for the idea 🙂
I feel you. The previous owners of my house went nuts with ivy and I have been engaged in a five month battle to dig all of that garbage out of my parking strip. I wish you luck in your root battle!
Ha! Thanks! Good luck with your battle as well!