May I suggest that you start a garden journal? Can't be beat for getting a handle on YOUR soil in YOUR yard and in YOUR micro-climate. BTW -- Congrats on your new home and garden. The following link is to a really useful publication. It provides more info than you'll ever need about root development of various veg's. Best of all, it has pictures and charts. Re: your planter depth of 6" being enough ... most plants will adapt to whatever conditions they face. Water, soil, sunlight, etc. ... most of us can't fill the optimum needs of our plants for these ... but somehow or other manage to get tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, etc. :) Here is a link that might be useful: Root Development of Vegetable Crops

I've never done it, but if I wanted to I would put some sort of collar around the shrubs. 3 - 4 inches out, and then go ahead and add soil. That way, they won't rot at the base of the trunk. Suppose you could use some kind of PVC pipe that you could cut and then fit around the trunk. Have you ever seen those concrete tree collars? They come in half circles. That might work.

Thank you, all, for your responses, I greatly appreciate them. Let me see if I can hit on each of your questions. The box is 69" long x 24" wide, and 18.5" deep (these are the inside dimensions). The whitish stuff around the base is the native soil, a hard clay. We dug up the grass in the area where we planned to put the bed, tilled the clay somewhat, and set the bed down on that spot. We did not put down any barriers between the bed and the clay. I plan on growing vegetables - mostly tomatoes and peppers, hence the depth of the bed. I'm honestly not entirely sure if I'll start vegetables now, given that it's already the end of August - I'm thinking that, maybe for now through autumn I'll just do some late-season annual flowers, just to have something there, and then start my veggies next spring. Since the native clay is pretty useless for growing what I want to grow, we bought soil to fill the bed. My husband (God love him) hates to spend much money on anything, and most of the soils available at the store were between $4 and $11 per bag. My husband was not keen on this. So I did some online research. I read somewhere that you can mix topsoil with compost 1:1 to make a good gardening soil. Both the topsoil and compost were selling for around $2 per bag. I hate cheaping out on stuff as important as soil type, but it was the only way to get my husband on board, so I'm really hoping this mix works. I forget how many bags of each we bought (the receipt is lying around somewhere), but when we mixed in the last few bags into the bed, I noticed that the soil level was considerably low (as shown in the picture). I commented that we needed more soil. My husband argued that he wasn't shelling out any more money on dirt. On another trip to Home Depot for something else, I finally managed to convince him to get more soil. So the soil level is higher now - not quite the 2" from the top that I've read is ideal, but better than it was before. The fence is going to provide some shade in the morning, yes, but once the sunlight clears the fence, the bed will have many hours of full sun. I didn't want to put the bed in the middle of the yard because I want to keep as much open space as possible for the dogs to run around. As an aside, the other reason the bed is as high as it is is because my male dog loves to pee on everything, and I didn't want him peeing on my plants; so, I made the bed high enough so he can't reach them. *chaparralgirl*

the only foreign stuff I've added is the garden soil on top a couple days ago. ==>>> good.. i just noticed all the peat on top ... if the soil is sodden ... just loosen it all around ... try to lift the whole gob out ...[thats a technical term ... lol] ... set it aside ... and then just find some native soil ... and dump it in the bottom of the hole.. and replant the tree on top ... where to find extra native soil .. i dont know.. dig a hole somewhere else ... and use the soil ... easy peasy ... just do it.. and dont be afraid ... perhaps.. think of it this way ... it might be a goner if you dont do it ... so you may as well do it ... and you might even leave it a few inches high ... so if it settles again ... it ends up at the right depth ... if you do end up with a mound.. throw some mulch on the mound... its the perfect time of year to do it.. so dont delay ... ken