Gardens near tree lines.

My wife and I recently bought a home. The house has a tree line (pines) at the rear of the backyard. The previous owners had a a green house that was blown down in a storm before we bought the house. My wife wanted to start a vegetable garden where the green house had been. I cleared out the rock (pebble) floor of the old green house but when I pulled up the black liner I found a number of very thin (less then a cm) woody roots running in every direction. I am assuming these are to the trees. I had planned on tilling the soil and adding in new top soil, but I am worried about the effect tilling will have on the trees. The roots run along the surface of the newly exposed soil. The garden would start about ten feet away from the trees and run to about thirty feet away. Would tilling to a depth of 4 to 6 inches threaten the trees. The poor tree line got attacked once by the electric company already last fall and I am a bit protective of the trees. Does anyone know if this would be a problem?

I'll let someone else advise you on the tilling, when in doubt I would err on the side of caution and not till the area, but some trees are more tolerant of root disturbance than others and I don't know that much about pines. The question I would ask though given that you're wanting to plant veggies right by the trees is whether there's enough sun there. Most veggies like full sun, and if they're in shade from the trees for a good portion of the day that may not be ideal. Also if there are enough roots in the area, then the trees would be competing with the veggies for water and nutrients, and the veggies would likely lose that battle!

ecrane3,
Thank you, I think, due to a good angle we are OK on the light and there are a number of other plants growing in the area. My older neighbor tells me that her husband had a garden in ruffly the same place as ours in his backyard 30 years ago. But I don't want to do anything until I am comfortable that I wont hurt the tree line. Unfortunately this is not a case of my ignorance is bliss. Hopefully someone who knows about evergreens can help. Thanks for such a quick response.

Maybe you should think about a few raised beds? This would take care of many of the conflicts you will run into... water, nutrient, roots, etc. The roots from the trees would not be disturbed by the tilling as long as the trees are young enough and none are larger 1 cm. HOPE THIS HELPS

Raised beds can bother some trees too, again I'm not sure if pines are one of them, but there are some trees out there that don't appreciate having the soil level raised over their roots. By the time you get 30 feet out from the trees I suspect it would be OK, but as you get closer into the trees that is something to think about.

Those tree roots will find their way into your soil, even if you have raised beds, robbing your plants of water, nutrients and space.

The roots were under a liner covered by a 4 inch layer of stones, so I'm not to worried by covering them. I think you have all convinced me not to till though. Thanks to everyone.

Pines have very shallow roots so tilling would not be a good idea. If you can move to the farther end you can do raised beds without putting stress on the trees by the extra soil.