My mom has a raspberry patch that is not doing well because it is in soggy clay soil. We bought a load of topsoil for the garden and I was thinking we could raise the bed by just mounding dirt on top, perhaps 10 inches. Would this cause the existing plants to rot, or would they just move their roots up into the new better dirt? It would save a lot of digging. The alternative is to dig up the plants, put in the soil, then replant them. It is late April and the canes are up and flowering. Thanks for your input. Katherine
Roots are rather shallow. I cover maybe three inches each year with compost and the plants get through very well. In your case I would heap soil alongside an existing plant to reasonable depth rather than starting a new bed.
