Raised beds.

Hi, as I am now old and suffer greatly with rheumatoid arthritis I have decided to make our front and rear flower beds raised so it will be easier for me to attend to them. My question is that in each flower bed is a cutting of my father's fuchsia Nd are now over 45 years old and as you can imagine well established with very good root system. Would I be able to leave them alone and in situ and just put 12-14 inches of soil and compost over them. Obviously this work will not start until end of year when flowering season is over. Thank you.

 

12-14 inches (about 30+ cm) - that's a lot of soil. I'm not sure if the plant will take it so easily. Lots of plants depend on a certain depth of their root system. And sub-surface plant parts tend to rot if they are permanently surrounded by moisture.

Of course there are exceptions like raspberries, blackberries or rhododendron but they multiply by making new roots from plant parts touching the soil.

My suggestion would be to build the raised bed around them, then fill it and move the plant at the same time.

 

I am not sure of the answer @Johnta other than about a ft of soil seems quite a lot. That said I know you can totally bury Fushias to over winter them but obviously dig them up again in the spring. I personally might try increasing the levels round the Fushias gradually not all in 1 go and see how they respond. Perhaps use bark chip round them rather than soil as this would allow free drainage. Also I would take cuttings as a backup plan, they are really easy to root.
As regards Black Dog’s comment about other plants coping with being planted deep, I cannot comment on the berries but am surprised re the comment about Rhododendrons of which I grow many. The biggest mistake people make when planting Rhododendron is to plant too deep! They might survive being half buried but are definitely not going to like it. They all are surface rooters and dislike their roots being deep.

 

Thank you both for your help, I thought I may have to dig them up and replant so as all will be moved anyway I can dig a big area around franchise's without hopefully doing too much root damage.
Halibopp in Rothsesay on Bute at the moment, beautiful Scotland, yeahhhh.

 

Hi @Johnta,

Well going to advocate a different way and thats not to make raised beds.

Raised beds need a lot of work to set them up with either timber or bricks etc. and a Lot of soil and compost to go in them, not the lightest of tasks as we know !!

With them being raised with the usual extra goodness folk decide to put in them, things will grow very fast, fine if you are doing veg and fruit, but you are wanting to make less work , not more !
Also they are much more free draining so you need to do more watering, though perhaps not so much a problem where you are ?

Raised beds may be a few more inches higher, but think you will find they need more of your time with plenty of bending or kneeling etc.
We made a 12" high veg bed last year and cannot say it offers much relief, if fact more work if anything.

Perhaps look at rescaping your existing borders with more perennial plants and use mulches etc so they need less of your attention but still look good.
Also check out the gardening tools and gadgets that help overcome the problems of bending and kneeling etc.