Planter in soil

[monkeyboy]

I plan on building a wide planter to grow some rose bushes in. My last planter was made from untreated redwood that I treated and lined as I was growing strawberries. The planter sits on the patio and the legs stay dry.

This time the rose planter will sit in soil. I’m anxious to ensure the planter lasts for a long time and won’t succumb to moisture. Any thing in particular that I should do or watch out for?

[burnie]

If the wood is in contact with the soil it will rot, the type of wood just makes a difference as to how fast it rots. We can slow it down using wood treatments, but it's natures way to return dead wood back to the soil. When you place the planter you could raise it on either slabs or bricks to encourage air circulation.

[Plot70]

If your soil is clay roses grow fine planted direct.
If you want the bed raised second hand bricks work well enough. Cleaning the old cement off is quicker with older bricks.
They last a lifetime.

[Jungle Jane]

The rose root could eventually grow through the base of the planter,making it difficult to move to replace in the future. It wouldn’t really need a base if that would be ok,like a small raised bed. Depends if you want the rose contained,putting the planter on top of slabs would help stop the roots growing through to the soil. Are you attaching a trellis to tie the branches onto & train onto or just a free standing rose? Weeding around the rose in a planter is very thorny on your arms & a bit difficult depending how wide the planter is.

[monkeyboy]

I can’t multiquote on my phone so apologies if this doesn’t format correctly.

If the wood is in contact with the soil it will rot...you could raise it on either slabs or bricks to encourage air circulation.

That’s good to know. Would stone chippings work equally well? I had considered putting some down and resting the planter on top of that initially.

If your soil is clay roses grow fine planted direct.

Yup clay soil. I’d still want a planter for tidiness even if it were bottomless.

Are you attaching a trellis to tie the branches onto & train onto or just a free standing rose? Weeding around the rose in a planter is very thorny on your arms & a bit difficult depending how wide the planter is.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...rose-flowerbed

What I had planned to do was make something similar to a rose wall display. I was considering climbing roses on either side to climb a trellis and form an arch, then a few shrubs in between to fill out the space below the arch. The colours won’t be mixed as they would with an artificial rose wall but I think it would be close enough. The planter would be 3m long, about 1m wide. I hadn’t worked out depth (maybe 50cm) with a trellis that reaches about 6 foot high in total. Bottomless would work fine but the lower boards would still be in contact with soil.

it might be worth looking into the cost of acacia planks ?

This is really my second woodwork project so I’m a little hesitant to spend money in case I screw up. This was my first tiered planter: https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...g-planter-wood

[Jungle Jane]

It sounds lovely,some roses are bushy little plants that stay small,maybe have a small one in the middle of the bed with climbers either side. You could mulch around with bark chippings or something to try & avoid blackspot.

[monkeyboy]

It sounds lovely,some roses are bushy little plants that stay small,maybe have a small one in the middle of the bed with climbers either side. You could mulch around with bark chippings or something to try & avoid blackspot.

Yikes. I had to look up black spot. I don't know anything about roses, and barely know how to grow some vegetables. The potential to screw this up is huge. I will post more queries in my other thread to avoid derailing this one too much clicky