Anyone know what kind of roots these are? They've taken over my whole garden! Been like this for a couple years now. Last years harvest wasn't so good. Im wondering if these roots are to blame.

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I don't think roots can be IDed, you would have to take photos of nearby trees, even if you think they are too far away.

I dunno what they are, the usual suspects are whatever is growing right next to your garden area. But some plants can send out roots for a long distance. If you really want to know you can follow the roots back to the plant. Dig around and follow the small roots to bigger roots then excavate those back to the mother plant.

If you want to get rid of them, dig down around the perimeter of your garden and kill the roots leading into your garden. That should kill the ones inside of the garden as well. If it doesn't you'll need to dig up all the roots inside the garden. Don't rototill or anything like that, you might inadvertently propagate the mother plant.

You don't need to dig a big trench around your garden. You just need to cut the roots. First figure out how deep the roots are and then using a flat head shovel or spade slice down into the ground to the depth (plus a little more) of the roots.

For a longer term fix you can dig some metal roofing or other sheet metal vertically into the ground around your garden. Of course, the roots will eventually come back. Hopefully that won't be right away.

[Unsolicited advice: fix your adze with a nut and bolt instead of that old nail. You'd hate to have the head come off as you are swinging it]
Good luck

That makes sense. My garden is definitely closed in by some trees and shrubbery. Rhododendron and Cedar/ Juniper right next door.

Thank you for the advice!!

Me, too! I first noticed these roots 7-8 years ago. At first, they were only coming in a few feet from the south side my 25' x 70' garden. Now they are all over. I've taken these to the county extension office and several garden centers. The only answer I get is, "They're tree roots". There is an oak tree (probably 200 year old) 75' away in a neighbor's yard to the east. To the west is an huge maple tree 50' away. Between my dad and I, we've had a garden in this exact spot for more than 50 years. If the roots were from those two trees, why would they have just shown up in the past few years?

I have to till every spring and still play tug-of-war digging my dahlia tubers in the fall. I'm wondering if they might be from something in potting mix or top soil.

As the trees get bigger, so do the root zones. The advice above about creating a barrier is worthy of consideration, IMVHO and IME. I have to do that to keep all of the various types of vine grasses out of my cultivated areas.