Roses have rather deep roots, and that should be encouraged as they will be more drought tolerant. I would amend the soil as deeply as possible.

I am not at an expert level, but have grown roses in raised beds, and definitely agree with Evenie. I would dig deep; at LEAST 8", and also amend that soil underneath the raised bed kit with compost or whatever you generally use as an amendment for roses.

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Sun, Feb 9, 14 at 13:18

Thanks Dessert garden and Evenie for saving me from myself. I guess this will teach me .ot to bite off more than I can chew.

Shopshops, I agree with the others. I think you've got clay and caliche somewhere under your raised beds, so I'd dig down into native soil and amend a bit, mixing in whatever your personal secret amendment formula happens to be. Eventually your rose roots will hit clay and such, but soil transistion and gradual adjustment is helpful. This summer you'll be glad you scraped together enough time to do the prep. It will save you months of wilting roses and frustration and gallons of water! Carol

Thanks Carol. I so treasure the advice I get on here from my rose friends. Rightyho!! No more laziness will be out there tommorow if the freezing rain doesn't stop me.....

Garden gypsum breaks up heavy clay nicely, and is an excellent buffer if your pH is off.

Best of luck, Shopshops! Post pics when your beds are in? Carol

I always dig down to 50cm (about 20") when I plant roses.
Nik

Thank you Evenie, Carol and Nix. I pledge to be a poster of pics this year!

Raised beds for me. Line them with newspapers. They will work through the newspapers and the newspapers will help to enrich the soil below. Make sure you have several layers of newspaper, an inch thick if possible. You can also use magazines. Dyes in slick ads now are no problem.

The deeper you dig, the more weeds you are bringing up. I don't need any more weeds than I already have. My newspaper blocks the sunlight from the weeds and in the time it takes the roses to reach down to the other layer of soil, my newspapers have killed off a lot of weed seeds. That's my story and I am sticking to it.

I love your story as well Patricia. I have awful Bermuda grass. So I will remove the grass before I lay the newspapers. My bareroots came on Saturday. Its warming up here in Texas. Got to get them in the ground.

I love your story as well Patricia. I have awful Bermuda grass. So I will remove the grass before I lay the newspapers. My bareroots came on Saturday. Its warming up here in Texas. Got to get them in the ground.

Just asked this question on the HGTV site and received a reply from "The Gestalt Gardener" Felder Rushing. He said that I should turn the soil at least a shovel depth, incorporate compost and top with an additional inch of mulch to dress the bed and, of course, to conserve moisture. Then either add material to hold the soil in place, such as either boards or stones. I would love to go out and find some, but here in my part of MS, we just don't have them naturally, at least not to any size.
I also overdid it this year with the roses. I have 30 outside right now resting in mulch till I can finish the rose beds! And I have another 11 coming sometime this week! Going to be busy this week, but I know how happy I will be to see my roses bloom!