When you say "concrete raised bed container", I'm trying to figure out exactly what you are planting in. When I think "raised bed", I think of a bordered, raised area placed directly on the ground. In that case, you would basically be ground-growing. When I think "container", I envision that there is a bottom, and no direct contact with native soil (except perhaps via a drainage hole). Managing your trees will vary somewhat on whether or not you truly have container or a raised bed. Also, the dimensions of the root growing space will also dictate how you manage it. Many of us have probably seen very large trees growing in very large containers. With these large containers, of course no root pruning is carried out. Large mechanized equipment is required to move them. Their growing conditions are fairly close to actual ground-growing. As the size of the container gets smaller, the need to manage (prune) roots, and change soil becomes more important. Having said all that, I am currently growing a plum tree in a container that I intend to keep at about 8' to 10' (it is 8' now). It is in a round metal container (like a half of a 55 gal. drum). I am using bonsai techniques to improve the appearance of the tree. I am currently training a small side-branch to eventually become an upper portion of the main trunk. I have kept all foliage above that branch as "sacrifices" to help thicken the trunk below. When the time comes, I will be "chopping" all of the trunk above my chosen branch, then this branch will be come the new trunk above this chop. By doing this, I will be adding some "trunk taper" and some "movement" to improve the overall appearance of the tree. Over time, I will select another branch higher up, and repeat the process for some more taper and movement. It will take years. Every few years I will root prune the tree, and change the soil. This will not be easy. I did just that with an 8' Liquidambar that I am growing in an identical container. Last winter, I carefully placed the container on its side, and "rolled" the root ball out of container, being very careful not to damage any important branches. Once out of the pot, I root pruned, and replaced the tree into the container with some new soil. This is not an easy job with a tree this large. It might even be more difficult to remove the root ball from a concrete container like you propose. I look at it as a challenge, though. If your container is too small to allow unrestricted root growth (like true ground growing), then root pruning will be required to keep the tree healthy and vigorous. If the containers are too heavy or unwieldy to allow the root ball to be removed, then you will need to adopt an alternate strategy for root pruning. This strategy could consist of periodic cutting and removal of the roots and soil from the perimeter of the container, and replacing it with new soil. You could also consider taking pie-shaped pieces from the root ball, allowing you to prune closer to the trunk. You would take these pie-shaped pieces in a rotating manner so that every few years there is a complete removal and turnover of a large portion of the roots and soil from around the trunk. In this scenerio, you will be unable to prune the bottom of the root ball. The downside to this method is that you will be unable to identify and correct circling roots, and the like. Large trees can successfully be maintained in small containers, but you have to work at it. Only you can decide if you are willing to go through all the effort. There's some good advice over at the CONTAINER GARDENING forum that will help you immensely. I suggest browsing over there for a while. Good luck!

I've got a black mission fig that I planted this spring, which is growing really well so far. I live in Knoxville, TN in the river valley at the base of the Smokey Mountains. This area is borderline between zones 6 and 7. I've got an unheated garage and plan to make room to bring my fig inside the garage for the winter. In another tread about growing Apache blackberries in a boderline area, I suggested an idea I plan to use to protect my muscadines vines this winter. I have 3 of them in containers, and they're too big to bring inside for the winter. If you don't have a basement or garage where you can put your fig for the winter, you might try this idea to give your fig some extra protection from the cold. Rose growers in the north have long protected their plants by building a cylinder of chicken wire around the plant and then filling it with dry mulch such as leaves or straw. The top and sides of the cylinder are then wrapped in plastic to keep the mulch dry, with only the bottom portion left uncovered with plastic so that some air can circulate to keep the mulch dry and prevent rot. If you use plastic on the top to keep the mulch dry, you must leave the bottoms uncovered so that air can circulate. Some people say to use burlap or something porous and never to use plastic, but they are often in climates where all winter precipitation is frozen. Burlap would keep snow from wetting the mulch, but would not keep rain from soaking through. Either way the mulch must stay fairly dry, otherwise it will rot the plant you are trying to protect. Southern gardeners have long used this same idea on a larger scale to protect tender hydrangeas and gardenias during the winter. This protects the limbs from cold dry winds as well as keeping snow from breaking the limbs. The biggest problem you might have with figs in a container outside during the winter is that the root ball might freeze in a pot that is exposed to the cold. If you don't have a garage or basement where you can bring it in during the winter, you could dig a hole to sink the pot into the ground for the winter to give the pot some protection from hard freezes. Even if that part of your yard does not get enough sun to be a place you could grow the plant during summer, a protected place on the east side of the house could give the fig a better chance of survival during winter. There is some contradictory advice on what exposure is best. North and west exposures are often bad because of the cold prevailing winds are often from north and west. South and west exposures are often bad because a few sunny days can fool a tender plant that spring has come and encourage the plant to bud out in February. Overall an east exposure during the winter may be the best compromise. The north side of the house can be good, if there is something that blocks the north winds, such as a hedge or fence. I used to live in Atlanta where I grew gardenias in pots on the patio of my condo. Most of the winters in Atlanta were mild, but we could get 3 or 4 nights each winter with temps near zero. On these extra-cold nights, I would pull all my tender potted plants on my patio up against the sliding glass doors. I would cover the top and outer side of the plants overnight with a mover's quilt. The heat that escaped through the glass was enough with the plants covered by the quilt to keep them protected overnight, when other gardenias planted on the grounds would get their end bitten back by the cold. I saw another idea on television that I thought was interesting but have not tried. I was watching 'Gardening By The Yard', which I find funny and interesting. He was doing a show on micro-climates in your yard. He interviewed the head gardener at one of the large hotels in Las Vegas. The guy said that tourist expected to see palm trees to go along with the sun and sand in Vegas, but the desert can actually get fairly cold at night during the winter. His solution to protect his tender palms was to decorate them with small Christmas lights. He said that for palm trees the main protection was needed for the trunks rather than the fronds. He used the tiny lights to wrap the trunks from the ground up to the top. They were really pretty and looked like glittery barber poles. He said that beside looking festive in the winter, the electricity going through the wires generated just enough heat to keep the trunks warm enough overnight when temps dropped below freezing. My guess is that a fig tree would look quite cute decorated white or coloured fairy lights. If you had an extra-bitter cold night, you could cover the lighted plant up with a blanket as well. In the fall most years, we will get a frost followed by a few more weeks of Indian Summer. I always have a large patch of tomatoes in a raised bed that I want to protect for as long as possible. For the past 2 years, I've covered them with a blanket just before dark and put a shop light with 100 watt light bulb shop near the base of the plants. Last fall we had about 3 nights down to 25 degrees, and that light bulb was enough to protect the plants with the blanket until temps rose the next morning. By protecting the tomato plants for 3 night of below freezing temps at Halloween, it warmed back up enough that I had fresh tomatoes for another month. It was really great to pick fresh tomatoes and bell pepper for Thanksgiving dinner. The link below is one I found that has lots of different figs described. There are lots of varieties that are more cold hardy than the Black Mission that is normally stocked by nurseries. For people that have never eaten a fresh fig pulled from the tree, they have no idea how good they really are. I like dried figs, but most fresh ones you find for sale are not very good. Fresh figs pulled from the tree are heavenly. Good Luck with your figs, Greg Here is a link that might be useful: descriptions of lots of different figs, including cold hardy ones

The only problem with mounds, and I use them much more than some kind of walling method, is they tend to settle a great deal, so you need to make them about 18" high and at least 6' diameter for each free standing, say ultimately 12-14' high and wide tree (both can be adjusted up or down a couple feet). I keep the mounds from eroding by mulching with wood chips, which means you have to control voles even more carefully. I don't know why someone would suggest that compost makes things wetter, that is recipe type gardening advice based on fear of a particular kind of compost, I think. Some composts repel water, some can be soppy but most composts help make clay drain better because it fits between the fine particles of clay and holds them apart, creating drainage. Forest compost, especially the kind that forms under oak trees and white pines in the woods actually resists ever being soppy. If any of that happens to be handy you can gather it up and use it. I deal with all these issues on a constant basis because I install orchards for people as a major part of my business. Drainage is often an issue so a high percentage of orchards I install are on mounds. The commercial growers often use berms which has the advantage of maybe not needing to be as high, but I prefer individual mounds in home and estate settings..

Renee, With well-established bermuda grass, the roots can be so thick, twisted together and overgrown that they are like concrete. You have several options, and there is no easy or "quick fix". 1) You can rent a sod cutter from an equipment rental store. You set it to the depth you want and it will cut and lift squares or rectangles of sod (they will look like the pieces of grass sod you buy in stores, only thicker). I don't think the cutter will go down as deep as you need, but it would be a good start. Once you get the grass runners and stolons out, add organic material to the soil to improve boths its ability to hold water and to drain well. Plant, mulch, you're done. (You will have to watch carefully for signs of infilitration by bermuda grass or weeds.) 2) You can cover the area of future beds with very thick heavy black plastic. If I were doing it, I would get either 4mm or 6mm and lay down a double layer of it. Before laying down the black plastic, soak the ground thoroughly to get it really wet. The moisture plus the heat will start killing the grass. Leave the black plastic there for 6 months to a year, using bricks, lumber or something similar to hold it in place. It won't look very attractive, so you can cover it with a layer of bark mulch if you want. If you can't stand the sight of an empty mulched "bed" place a few large containers of flowers there. Eventually the bermuda will die under the plastic. You may still find some runners or stolons there when you lift up the plastic, but then you can hand-dig them. Then, improve the soil be adding organic material and plant. Mulch to keep weeds out. 3) Spray the bermuda grass with a non-selective herbicide like Round-up. The grass will brown out and die. Based on my experience with the bermuda grass in our yard, it can take several applications to kill all the grass. (You'll think it is dead and then, in scattered locations, it will green up and start to grow again.) This might be especially true for you since you've dug into the ground and already know it has a very dense, deep root system. Once the grass appears dead, dig up and remove all you can. Improve the soil, plant and mulch. 4.) Give up on the idea of having in-the-ground flower beds and build raised beds. If the thought of doing that seems overwhelming, plan to build one bed per year until your yard is the way you want it to be. To build a raised bed on top of bermuda grass, spray the area with Round-up. Wait a week to allow it to work and then lay down a layer of something on top of the dead-looking turf. My favorite thing to use is heavy cardboard. You also can use newspaper (I'd lay it down 30 or 40 pages thick with bermuda grass. As you are working with the newspaper, wet it down so it won't blow away.) You can use thick black plastic too. In your hot and dry part of the state, the thick black plastic would help keep the bed's moisture from draining away too quickly. Appliance boxes are ideal for this because their cardboard is thick and in large pieces. Build your bed edging, using wood, manufactured lumber like Trex, stacked stone (like Windsor stone), flagstone, concrete blocks, etc. Choose whatever fits your budget and gives you the look you prefer. Make your raised bed about a foot tall. If you go shorter than that, the roots may grown down through the cardboard, paper or plastic before all the bermuda grass roots are decayed. Fill your bed with purchased soil. For a large bed, you might want to order and have a dumptruck bring you a load. Or, for a smaller bed, you can purchase bagged soil, peat moss, compost, etc. from a place like Wal-Mart, Lowe's or Home Depot. Put a fabric-type cloth mulch (not the cheap plastic type that has millions of perforations to let water through--it lets weeds and bermuda through too) on the surface of your raised bed. Use landscape staples or pegs to secure it. Cut X-shaped openings in the fabric and plant your plants. Water them well. Cover the fabric with a couple of inches of bark mulch. Sit back and enjoy. If it sounds like a lot of work, it is. However, if you prepare the beds properly to begin with, you'll have 1000% less problems with bermuda grass and wees later on. As far as your soil goes, the fact that it is dark and has earthworms are both very good signs. First, I'd do the soil jar test explained in the link below. That will tell you what your soil is--clay, sandy, silt, etc. Ideal soil is sandy loam. You can turn clay, pure sand or pure silt into sandy loam by adding organic materials (compost, peat moss, finely shredded bark, manure, etc.), although improved clay will be more of a clayey-loam than a sandy loam, unless you add sand as well as organic materials. After the jar soil test, add organic materials and till them in well (or mix in well by hand). THEN it is time for a soil test. It will tell you if your soil is missing any essential elements that you need to add, or if a particular element is excessive in your soil IF the plants already grow well and seem healthy, you probably could skip the soil test. Good luck with your gardening venture and keep us posted on how it is going. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Jar Test Article