welcome to the forums ....

where are you ...

we should start by IDing the trees ....

and a pic or two might really help ...

your base problem .. will be that ANY digging under a well established large tree .. will cause each severed root to develop new feeder roots ... and the desert under any big tree .. will only get worse ... its the bane of hosta gardeners.. and been discussed in that forum ad nauseum over the years ...

embo is spot on.. when he says you will need unkillable plants for the location ... plant them properly.. and water the devil out of them.. in a broadcast fashion ... if you water only each plant... guess where the tree will put all those new roots its growing ...

once bulletproof plants get a toe hold .. then they should become free range.. and you can quit watering the trees ....

ken

ps: never use plastic nor weed barrier.. EVER ... its useless .. expensive.. and twice the work when it fails.. and you have to dig it all back up ....

Thanks for your comments, I will take some photos and post them tomorrow. I live in the north of Scotland so these are big pine trees not conifers with low branches. I would like to put in some plants to grow over the fence between me and my neighbour, clematis should be okay for my climate. I do have a leaky hose in place for watering. I will post photos tomorrow so you can get a better idea.

thanks

The Caledonian forest / woodlands represent a unique ecosystem in the British Isles – they are remnants of the vast wilderness that once existed here; and across on the Continent – as boreal coniferous forest. These forests and woodlands are populated particularly by the Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris). One of the larger tracts of this native pine forest is the Black Wood of Rannoch. In such woodlands, the shrub layer is restricted, perhaps limited to the occasional juniper, whilst the ground layer is not far different to that of heather-bilberry moor. Heather is always a dominant plant of the ground flora, but mosses may make a significant contribution to this layer. Other plants such as cowberry, crowberry and common cow wheat may be found and rare species such as the Twinflower Linnaea borealis – a boreal member of the honeysuckle family.

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/flora-and-fauna/caledonian-forests/

I found this photo before the house was built which show the tree quite well.

Actually it's a bit distant, we can't even see how close they are to the bed. Also what's growing underneath them now? That could point to what kinds of things the site can support. Otherwise if your side of the fence is a ways out, with the bed not back in under the trees then you have much more flexibility - you can probably just plant directly into it, without making any special site modifications. Which is definitely the preferred situation. Including not building a visually disruptive retaining wall - the part of the slope on the other side of the house in this view for instance may be gradual enough to not need anything installed to hold it back.

You can choose from among multiple different site and plant features offered, use this tool to identify generally suitable candidates.

Royal Horticultural Society - Find a plant

Search by plant name, attribute or both to find plant details and a list of suppliers

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-Form

Thanks I will try a close up photo weather permitting tomorrow,

Those trees aren't too close and they aren't big compare to mine. I have old ash, pine trees, and a 24-25 years old maple tree. I don't know about other plants, I am a rose gardener. Here is a photo of my roses growing near a huge ash tree, they can find their way to grow in the land of tree roots.

They look fabulous, I know roses grow well where I live so it sounds like a good idea. I may be able to get some bare root ones. Are they shrub roses or climbing ones?

Thanks! The light pink one is Carefree Beauty, a shrub rose( landscaping rose); the dark pink one in the back is William Baffin, a climber, that's a monster rose though. I buy bareroot roses every year, this year so far I ordered from Hortico, Palatine for next spring. There are some bargain bareroot sales in May-June, check rose forum around that time. We post rose sales threads there. The cheapest sale was 5 roses for $14.99.

You have a nice fenced yard, a lot of room to grow. :-)

O.P. is located overseas of course. They could use the R.H.S. site to locate suppliers for specific roses where they are.

I have taken some photos, the area I want to plant is at the top of the bank to cover the fence,

Photo2

Photo 3

Photo4

If you just want to hide the fence, what's wrong with ivy? It seems distant enough that anything delicate would be lost. I'm curious if the fence is yours. In the us it is traditional to present the finished side to the neighbor. In this case it seems wasted on conifer knees!

I would think that what you plant would depend on the amount of rain you receive. Also in looking at the pictures it looks like you may be at the top of a slope, ie the land drains away from your lot.

If you are getting little rain and the slope is away from your lot; that area is going to be very dry, and difficult to keep things growing without watering.

If you get plenty of water, then there are many plants that will grow. I would suggest a visit to a local park, your neighbors yard, or a biological garden in your area to see what they have planted

I have tried growing some ivy but it isn’t very happy. The fence is quite close to the house so I would like to grow something attractive. My original question was how to improve the growing conditions on my side of the fence. The ground is an old river bed so in digging down I am getting out a lot of rocks. I wanted advise on whether it would be worth putting in any kind of barrier to give my plants time to get established before the tree roots took all the nutrients.

Which zone are you in? Do you like fruit trees? persimmon? Pear? Apple?

I live in the north of Scotland, it can be very cold in the winter with substantial amounts of snow. We don’t have heavy rainfall and I do have a leaky hose for the top part of the garden.

Oh Scotland! A part of DH family was from there. I am in the US zone 6a, temperatures can go down to -10F ( -23.33C), is your place colder than that? I can grow hardy Japanese Persimmons, pear and apple trees here.

The village I live in seems particularly cold -6 last night and its only November. I would prefer to go to -15 put I will have a look at your suggestions people do grow fruit tree near me , Will they grow near the trees.

Plant in the existing soil, between large roots, and use mulch to encourage establishment and growth. Do not pile mulch against the base of the fence or place anything else against it, that might cause the wood to be kept moist. (Also if the bottom cross pieces are resting on the soil the dirt should be dug out beneath them so they do not rot. The depth need only be enough to eliminate soil contact).

Fruit should be out in the open, where it gets full light. Persimmons are hot summer climate trees, not a regular feature of British plantings. In addition to the R.H.S. web site and magazine you can get ideas for plants, read discussions of methodology in magazines that are on display at libraries and book stores - I see ones like B.B.C. Gardener's World and English Gardening over here. It seems a source in the U.K. itself might have multiple additional titles available.

And as I believe was suggested previously visits to any nearby private or public gardens could be quite instructive. Public ones in particular might even have classes, guest speakers or other events of interest.

If you are saying you want the plants to be hardy to the equivalent of 5 degrees F. then that is comparatively mild by continental U.S. standards, except in parts of the southern and Pacific Coastal areas. You can see here where you fit in relation to U.S. winter climates, with the coldest British USDA zoning being 7 whereas large sections of the U.S. fall well below that:

http://www.trebrown.com/hrdzone.html

Note - as it says in the discussion at the page linked to - that the minimum temperatures associated with each Zone are average temperatures and not the coldest it gets in each Zone.

Thank you, I am in the coldest part of the U.K. near the Cairngorm mountains. The fence is fine, I put a rabbit net around the bottom and gravel on top so the fence is clear of any ground and my bed starts about 30 cm away from the fence. I will have a look at fruit trees I am sure I can fit one in along with roses and clematis that have also been suggested.

It looks like you're in a warmer zone than me. There are 2 hardy persimmons I know for my zone here: Saijo and Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro. I don't know if you could find them over there though. My trees are small, I have to buy some persimmons this weekend. :-)

Persimmons will not be a good choice for where she is, due to the summer climate.

would weed blocker fabric, about 1.5 feet deep in the ground, help? seems it would let moisture down into the ground and not let it puddle up, but keep roots from her planting. not sure if any o the plantings will be edible, but if berries are being grown, you definitely want to keep the pine roots out of the soil

Unless the fence and slope are south of the trees fruits, veg and other sun-loving subjects should be placed out well away from the trees and their roots anyway. Otherwise we can see other plants are already growing on the slope, without the trees having prevented this. There shouldn't be a huge difference in conditions between the slope and the level area next to the fence, except for any shading the fence may be producing.

I have been experimenting for the last couple of years since I moved here. I am moving some of th eplants as are not happy. I have bought some roses toady and a couple of clematis as they were in the sale at the garden centre.

10 AGM clematis

Clematis are the most popular of all climbers and can be grown on walls and fences, scrambling through shrubs or even as ground cover. Plantsman Graham Rice chooses these plants with the Award of Garden Merit

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/articles/graham-rice/10-agm-clematis

I would knock down that fence and plant a mixed border. Gold-tipped evergreens, spring-flowering trees, fall color plants, roses, azaleas... the list goes on and on.

Sorry I can’t take down the fence the land next door is a hotel , plus it has rabbit fencing all around it to keep them out.