It’s Alive! And how you can keep it that way!

Earlier this summertime I prepared new bed for about 200 newfangled rose plant here on our farm . I did all the right things like repair , but now that fall is here I ’m go to back to the beds and feed the soil all over again .

Why do I do this ? Constantly feeding and improving the soil is one of the most important things you’re able to do to improve the health of your roses , and that pass to better disease resistance .

So , even if you have established bed this is a beneficial thing to do every few years .

First you need a good know soil amendment . This means it ’s alive with micro - organism , earthworms and all the other things that make lifelike dirt dandy . Many commercial dirt amendments are sterile and do trivial good .

I am blessed in that we have horses on our farm that make live on grunge amendment 24/7 – 365 years a year . We have a big pile of manure and shavings behind our barn , and the back of that pile is now two years older and awing stuff .

Now I have sex almost all you do n’t have knight on your belongings , much less a manure pile ! That ’s okay . If you make your own compost employment that . If you do n’t make your own compost , moderate around for barns that board horses or even race tracks or show grounds . I imagine they will be enthralled to give you as much as you may haul away . seek to find some that is at least 6 months old . When I live in Los Angeles I used to go to the Equestrian Center where they would sell you aged manure and shavings from the giant mountain of it they had out back .

If you strike out on the knight front , train with your local garden center to see if they know of a source for upright living soil amendment that has not been sterilized .

When you source some simply spread it on your beds 3 - 4 inch thick – a short thinner around pocket-sized industrial plant like some perennial so you do n’t bury them . Over time it will solve its fashion down into the soil adding all that living goodness .

The reason I like to do this in evenfall is because it not only provide some winter protection , but if there are any gage they will likely break down by the time next spring axial rotation around Once you are done just cover it with a good hardwood mulch as that will also avail keep Mary Jane down .

I realize the cerebration ( and possibly the expense of renting a pickup hand truck ) might put you off doing this but think of these two things . First , what would it cost you to buy bags of grunge amendment ? secondly , what would it be you in time and money to spray the pink wine on a regular basis for disease all year long ? My experience has shown doing this every few old age issue in healthier , felicitous roses , and the show they put on the follow season quickly makes me forget all that shoveling !

Happy RoseingPaul

Fine Gardening advocate intersection

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