Published: 30 January 2026 - Watch on YouTube
Welcome back to My Windy Garden. In this video I share one of the biggest gardening mistakes I made in my small kitchen garden – planting raspberries too close to my raised beds. What started as five bare-root canes turned into an underground invasion of roots spreading through weed membrane and soil.
I planted raspberries in a narrow space between my fence and raised bed, not realising how aggressive their root system could be. Over time, the roots travelled underground and began appearing inside my raised beds.
This video shows exactly what happens when raspberries are planted in the wrong place in a small garden.
After weeks of heavy rain made my allotment impossible to work on due to clay soil and waterlogging, I returned to my home kitchen garden to tackle the raspberry roots.
I carefully removed soil layer by layer, cut through weed membrane, and uncovered a network of roots growing deep and wide beneath the raised beds.
Raspberry roots are thin but incredibly strong and can grow through heavy-duty membrane. Even tiny pieces left behind can regrow and spread again.
This experience shows why raspberries should be planted with care, especially in small gardens or near raised beds.
All raspberry plants have now been moved to the allotment where they have more space to grow without causing damage to my kitchen garden.
To stop them returning, every remaining root must be removed fraction by fraction in a slow and methodical process.
Thank you so much for watching and supporting My Windy Garden. If you enjoy honest gardening videos and learning from real-life mistakes, please subscribe for more kitchen garden and allotment updates from Chichester, West Sussex.
Tags: #KitchenGarden #RaisedBeds #GardeningUK #Raspberries #MyWindyGarden