I have some plants at the bottom of a little incline on my backyard. They are now about 4 feet tall. I want to throw some dirt on their bases to level the terrain a little bit. It would bury them about 1-2 feet deep. Will this hurt them?
Anything I should do to make this easier on them (like removing the leaves that will be buried)?
Any other tips?
If it matters, they are some sturdy bushes with red foliage but I have no idea what their name is.
Some you can (and they’ll grow roots on the stems underground and strengthen that way) and some you can’t. It depends on what they are. Can you describe them better or link to a photo?
Some woody plants including trees are killed by having even as much as a few inches of soil heaped up around the base. You’re probably headed for trouble with 1-2 feet of “dirt”, even if the “dirt” is good quality free-draining soil.
If you want to preserve whatever you’ve got growing, better to dig up the plants with a good-sized root ball and then replant them after you have the grade you want (assuming the change you have in mind is OK for drainage in your yard and doesn’t affect the neighbors in a bad way).
Do they sucker (come up in other places), or develop roots along branches that touch the ground? That would help.
Is there something at the bottom to prevent the soil you are adding being washed away?
What plants are they?
Generally, you’d do better to dig up the plants & put them back after you’ve leveled the area.
For example, it is recommended that when transplanting tomatoes, you bury the stems a few inches deep since they will develop roots on those stems and it will strengthen the root system. I assume it is the same with others in the nightshade family (pepper, eggplant, potato). With others it is not recommended although I have put lettuce an inch into the ground and it doesn’t seem to hurt.
I have done something similar with grass. My back yard was somewhat convex, becoming a small lake after heavy rains. What I’ve been doing is: Whenever I have some extra soil, whether from the garden or from a houseplant, I sprinkle it in the low areas of the back yard. I’ve been doing this for several years, and the lawn is filling in nicely. What this means is that the grass in some locations is growing several inches below the surface. The visible grass looks no different than the areas that were not filled in. I don’t know whether or not they’re growing new roots, but they look just fine.
They do sucker and they do sprout roots when a branch goes low and touches the ground. I planted them from stakes, so they will grow roots as needed.
The spot is where the lot was leveled and it left a slope that ends in a low wall that separates my garden from the neighbors. That has been filled in several houses in the development so I know the wall will stand the weight (it is a very short slope and a small volume of dirt. I will be buying it in bags, not trucked in).
The spot does drain very well. There is a similar slope on the other side (this is a corner of my lot) that goes to a chain link fence and a road.
I have been googling maniacally all the common names these plants have here (mostly known as “galleguitos”) but no luck. I know this would help a lot for those of you who know plants and could give me a definitive answer. Maybe if someone has a link to a good gardening website where I could browse for it?
ETA: I could just as easily cut the whole lot and plant them anew from stakes which would allow me to get a few for another spot where I would like them and give some to people who have asked for them. It is just that I planted them from stakes only 4 months ago and I feel bad making them start from zero again.
cut out half of them for rooting and leave half in place