On 5 May 2003 14:57:45 -0700, (Chris)
wrote:

I have always heard that backfilling soil like this against
the tree trunk can kill the trees. Is this true? If so, could I
build some sort of box around the trunk and fill with gravel to keep
the soil away and still build my raised bed?

This would kill most trees, but is OK with Coast Redwoods. You will
probably have lots of suckers to deal with though.