[gardenjuujuu]

A customer would like the look of a flagstone wall only about a foot high around three trees but is seriously limiting me in budget. My thought is to do some walls that do not surround the whole area but rather accent each tree and then are visually pulled together by connecting them with the fill, plantings and mulch. I have a problem with getting a good trench for the footing because of gnarly old tree roots and I am also perplexed as to how to end the sections of walls - a squared off angle seems too abrupt. I am thinking to grade them out at each end and kind of blend everything together this way. Mind you I am on a $1500.00 budget - crazy - but I have my reasons ( good referrals from this customer, the challenge of it, etcetcetc ). Anyway, in my zone is there any alternative to the footing other than the old 'the check will be cashed before the wall falls down'??? Any other ideas??? and I have already done my own sanity check for agreeing to it.

[Terre]

Hi garden. I think grading them out, and maybe stairstepping the stones would look nice. I do a lot of those small jobs, basically another woman with a shovel, and so long as they don't take long, they are great.

[Stonehenge]

It's hard to advise on something like this, because if I were presented with the project, I probably would not return the client's calls.

But to the topic, cutting roots will damage trees, and adding a foot of soil around those same trees will damage them more, or maybe even kill them. If the client is OK with that, then I'd do what Terre suggests.

[gardenjuujuu]

Thank-you, Terre and Stonehenge. Are you guys saying no footer? This is my real problem - I do not want to start tearing up roots. I am confused as to why adding soil on top of the exposed roots would cause damage - I was thinking it could only help. I realize ideally you do not want it around the trunk area. Not answering the calls is not an option for me - I actually manage to make a little living with these little jobs that sometimes lead to bigger:-) Maybe someday!

[Lanelle]

In answer to the issue of adding soil to the root zone of the trees: Tree roots need oxygen to function. The usual recommendation is to add not more than 2" of soil to the original soil level. While you notice the large exposed roots, what is not visible are the small feeder roots that are just below the soil surface. Smother those and the tree will slowly die.

[Terre]

And I wasn't addressing the footer issue, simply because I've never tried it without a footer. You didn't say, what type of tree? And how old? Is it possible to move the mini walls a bit further out from the trunk of the tree to avoid the roots?

[gardenjuujuu]

Thank-you both, Terre and Lanelle. I will consider this a bit more before proceeding. There is always a solution, right???

[zullo-design]

some times the best thing to do in a situation like this is to let the client know what they want is not possible for their budget, and to present them with something that their budget accommodate. Like maybe a few planting beds around the trees with some accent boulders.

[FungusMudGrub]

How about ending the wall sections with one large rock? (I hesitate to call it a boulder if the wall is only a foot tall.)

As for the footer issue, I would excavate normally between roots, then try to bridge over the major roots with long rocks. It's not as good as removing the roots, but should give you a few more years than just setting the wall on them. Of course, it's going to take extra time to do that, so it might blow the budget.

[gardenjuujuu]

Thanks to everyone for the responses. I made a soup out of all of them and used pretty much every idea and it actually turned out great. We trenched as best we could, did footing in between roots, and were meticulous about the stacking. We did three accent walls that semi-circled each tree, graded them out at the ends and then added some topsoil, a few plants and some mulch. I made a few dollars, the customer is very happy and already has me signed up for more stuff in the fall. Cheers!