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From my Garden, January 2004 As I sit writing this, the forecast is calling for 6-9 inches of snow. It’s hardly a time to be thinking about the garden. Or is it? Now is a good time to reflect on what one should have done last summer and to plan for the coming season. By the way, that season is only a few short months away. Successful rose growing requires dedication and persistence. You must be dedicated enough to do the regular spraying required to prevent fungus diseases, seek out and apply organic manures to enrich the soil and supply food for worms, and persistent in doing all that’s required on a regular schedule and sticking to it. My best roses happened when I pruned on schedule in the early spring, applied organic fertilizer and weeded when I pruned and followed up immediately with a good fungicide and repeated spraying every 10 days throughout the growing season. I also added additional organic fertilizer at 6 week intervals through mid-August. My winter mulch was scratched into the soil at pruning time. If you take care of the soil with lots of organics including manures, the rose’s nutritional needs will pretty much take care of themselves. Now is the time to locate a source of manure, even acquire it and storing it in large plastic garbage cans. Get your fertilizers and formulate your plans for spring. When the time arrives to start in your garden, you’ll be glad you have all this stuff ready as it will make your spring chores go fast and smoothly. Now is also the time to leaf through the new rose catalogs, select and order your roses for early spring delivery. I like to get my bareroot roses in mid to late March. If the soil is not workable, I pot them up and get them growing in my polyhouse. Otherwise I plant them outside. Dormant roses, planted in cold but workable soil and covered with soil to protect against late freezes, will remain dormant until the soil warms up. The bushes, covered with soil, will be insulated against premature budding caused by early unseasonable warm spells that end suddenly with a sharp temperature drop which can cause those early buds to freeze. I avoid those early arrivals at Wal*Mart and Home Depot. They receive them too early and often store them outside in freezing temps. I don’t like roses in body bags anyway. The roots are usually trimmed way too much. A small root system prevents adequate uptake of moisture at a time when it’s most needed. Doesn’t matter how much you hydrate it, if there are few roots, the bush cannot use the water provided. That’s why it’s important to soak the bush for a day before planting. Early water and nutrient needs are supplied only by that which is stored in the canes. Until the soil warms, the tiny feeder roots do not grow. When they do begin to grow, nutrient and moisture uptake is limited by the size of the root system so big root systems that normally come with roses purchased from reputable rose suppliers will mean bigger and healthier bushes sooner. Although I’m not a big Jackson & Perkins fan, they do supply roses with large root systems. I believe their roses are overpriced. I like the stock that Edmunds ships. Normally the root systems are so large I have to cut them back a little. The new AARS selections are available from most suppliers while each offers their own “exclusive” varieties. They are as follows;
Everything A Prize Rose
Should Be
Daybreaker™ Fact Sheet
Honey Perfume™ Fact Sheet
Memorial Day™ Fact Sheet The hardiness of these roses in our zone 5 winters has not been proven. For that reason I’ve culled my over 500 rosebushes back to about 200 for easier winter maintenance. This year I’m buying hardy Explorer and Buck roses. That’s all for this month. Next month I’ll tell you about the new battery operated agitating sprayer I acquired in December. I’ll also have a few spring pruning tips. Now, go curl up with a rose catalog and think spring! Rosenut Have Questions? Write to: rosenut@rosenut.com
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