How deep soil for roses?

Hi,

Have a house in Cotswolds and want a rose garden. Pulled back the top soil to see what we had and an inch down it is bedrock. Literally an inch. It's a new build house that has been set into the landscape and hence no soil.

Am prepared to excavate down and can also build up but how much soil depth should I realistically have on bedrock? I'm thinking 18 inches. Is this going to be enough? I know it's 8" for grass but plants I'm not sure on. As its roses they really need to be healthy so don't want to skimp.

Also as its a border I'm assuming 3ft wide border by 18" deep of soil. Is this wide enough / deep enough?

Thank you!!!

Thank you!

Gary

 

I'm not sure 18 inches is going to be deep enough for anything except annual plants Gary, I would say 2ft minimum. Roses are hungry plants and it's not so much about the ability of root spread but whether the soil can maintain enough nutrients at that depth, even though roses would need extra feeding anyway. The same applies to many other shrubs that you may want to plant.

If you only want to go that deep there's always the option of building up too, with raised beds.

 

Ok thanks so I guess I need to aim for 2 1/2 ft in the beds.

Thanks. Much digging needed.

 

Good luck!