Roots invasion!

jude.alm

Hi All,

I am hoping someone will be able to help as i haven't got a clue what is going on with my front garden bed!
I have noticed during the last couple of years that my plants are dying one after the other which was very upsetting but I thought it's due to the area of the bed being quite shaded by a tree in the street and it's always water-logged and as a new gardner I didn't pick the right plants for these conditions. However, the problem was getting worse by the day and I am only left with the Laurel hedging standing as the only survivor so far! Finally I decided to remove the weed membrane and see what's going on. I was shocked to see roots covering the whole area everywhere! (Pic attached). The size varied between small and really thick roots! I remember when I first bought the house this bed was neglected and I tried to dig every single root left there but I am now not sure whether these roots are coming from what was left there or the tree in the street invading the bed or something else! Or may be they are not the reasons behind the problem.
I am really devastated but worse I don't know what to do! Can u help plzzz?

looksee

Its a bit difficult to see what is going on from just that pic, but the soil does not look great anyway. The roots could be from the tree or from the laurel hedge, and the white ones could easily be bindweed. Were the shrubs planted through the membrane? Can you take a more general pic so the layout of the garden is easier to understand?

jude.alm

Yes shrubs were planted through the membrane and I have uploaded 2 pics which may help to see the adjacent tree and the general layout. Thx looksee

LaChatteGitane

That doesn't look like laurel to me. And I think those roots might be from those plants.
It is a tiny bed for so many hedge plants too. Membrane isn't going to help at all, since you just do not have enough good soil there for other plants to grow well.

The Diddakoi

LaChatteGitane wrote: »

That doesn't look like laurel to me. And I think those roots might be from those plants.
It is a tiny bed for so many hedge plants too. Membrane isn't going to help at all, since you just do not have enough good soil there for other plants to grow well.

It looks like privet to me.

Day Lewin

The hedging is Grisselinia...and it is quite hard for any other plants to grow in the neighbourhood of a Grisselinia, (or indeed, privet) - the hedge plants are thick with leaves and grow densely: so, they are very greedy of minerals, soil, sunlight and water so any other plants near them don't get their share.

I suggest that you clip back the hedge into a "hedge" shape:
take up the weed membrane:
add some good topsoil or compost to the area and plant some tough ground cover plants like periwinkle or rubus, plus some bulbs etc for seasonal colour.

You can cut some holes in that mass of roots, it won't do much harm to the hedge.

Just make sure it isn't Scutch Grass (looks a bit like it, sorry!)

looksee

I agree that it is grisselinia, and you really do not need a hedge in that small area, especially a grisselinia which is a bit of a thug and much too vigorous for that space. I would be inclined to take the whole lot out, take up the membrane and roots, and improve the soil, then plant something like heathers, pieris, other small shrubs that will be decorative.

jude.alm

Thank u all for ur responses.
So I asked a neighbor who knows a bit better than me when it comes to gardening and she told me it's Grisselinia as suggested by Day Lewin and looksee. It tells u how much I know about plants and gardening However, I want to make it work and learn along the way so thanks a lot for the help.
I would like to keep the hedge for a bit of privacy but I can reduce the no. of the plants there, remove the membrane, improve the soil and plants some hawthorns and periwinkle as suggested. Does that sound good?

One more thing plz, after reading all responses did u exclude the tree as the root provider in this case? Could it some sort of weed and has nothing to do with the hedging?

looksee

I would think the brown roots are from the grissalinia and the white roots are either scutch or bindweed. And no, not hawthorn!

Day Lewin

Not hawthorn!!
It is another hedging shrub.

Get something that is robust, can thrive in poor ground, isn't too high, and is nice to look at year round.

Go to a good garden centre and ask to look at "Ground cover plants" like heathers, rubus, vinca, ivy, or trailing cotoneasters.

Even possibly rosemary or small roses - they are much tougher than they look.

And have faith, keep trying - gardening is all about learning as you go, and enjoying the ride: experiment is often the only way to find out if something works. And we all have casualties, too. Enjoy!

jude.alm

So no hawthorns, I got it
Day Lewin that's the plan! I shall get there one day meanwhile I will take ur advice and run with it many thanks to u all.