Just been digging over my clay pan to extend a raised bed today, Posy, with a pick axe, its that tough and full of boulders to lever out. I’m now recovering with a glass of wine. A bit early admittedly, but it is 6pm here in my defence!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Thanks everyone, yes i really think 50cm is the way forward too (just got to break it to the other half that more sleepers are required!) The roses arrived today, think they're going to have to go in large pots for the foreseeable future, they're quite big i.e not patio roses (DA Royal Jubilee shrub and James Galway climber) so hoping they'll be ok for a few months while i get this mess under control as eventually they'll go into the ground - i only bought them now because Monty Don said on Friday's GW "if you haven't bought bare root roses yet, you must do it now"... i have some shrub/rose compost and will line the bottoms with gravel and just hope! shall i use the mycrorhizal fungi now or wait til i plant them in the beds? I remember when my biggest garden problem was aphids and the neighbours cat poo - talk about perspective!
If you’re putting the roses in pots temporarily, you might be better to wait until the dormant season before transplanting them into the raised bed, rather than move them when they are in active growth, but I don’t know - perhaps our rose expert @Marlorena can advise?
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
To pot up a bare root rose as a temporary measure, you should not use oversize pots, it's not necessary, and a waste of compost... if you have any David Austin 6 Litre plastic pots available, use those.. 5 litre will also suffice... i.e. any largish black plastic pot... these will be good for several months for your bare root roses, at least until August, by which time I assume you will be ready to plant them out direct from the pot... they will be a little pot bound by then but that's not a problem..
If you find the roots are too big for the pot, don't be afraid to snip them back by as much as half, just use scissors or secateurs and snip off half the root system... it does them good anyway, and it's easier to pot up that way..
Here's a potted up bare root rose I did recently... I have nowhere to put it in the garden right now, so it will be good in this pot for several months, by which time I'll know which way I want to go with it.. these potted roses are what you also see in garden centres right now..
@Marlorena wow thank you that is so so helpful! i will follow your advice to the t! :-D i hope in a few months i have a successful raised bed with happy roses in it to post back on this thread to show everyone, i really do appreciate the advice that everyone has given :-D the fact that i am saying "a few months" and not "this weekend" also shows i am developing a bit of patience, so thats a bonus! :-)
Actually, that’s really useful advice for me too, Marlorena as I haven’t even begun to dig over the ground for the three bare root roses I just ordered - I knew there was a reason for saving those deep David Austin pots!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I find it's a great way to take the pressure off you, if you don't know quite what to do with them at time of receipt...sometimes you just need to get certain roses even though you don't have a suitable hole ready for them... .. I order lots of roses and sometimes they just have to get potted up temporarily like this... they will flower well in these pots too, you should have lots of blooms in June, just like you would in the ground...
Thanks, I’m feeling relieved already, slight disconnect betweeen rushing to get the bare root plants before the season ends and the preparedness of the intended location!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Resurrecting an old thread sorry... but just wanted to give an update, bit the bullet and went up to 50cm and lined the back with breeze blocks (much less expensive than sleepers) and I’m delighted with the result and lack of worry re flooding so thanks for convincing me it’s the way to go! 😁 definitely not daunted by finding emough plants to fill it... 😬 think I will have a field of cosmos this year! other half is in the bed in photo so you get an idea of scale!
Posts
To pot up a bare root rose as a temporary measure, you should not use oversize pots, it's not necessary, and a waste of compost... if you have any David Austin 6 Litre plastic pots available, use those.. 5 litre will also suffice... i.e. any largish black plastic pot... these will be good for several months for your bare root roses, at least until August, by which time I assume you will be ready to plant them out direct from the pot... they will be a little pot bound by then but that's not a problem..
If you find the roots are too big for the pot, don't be afraid to snip them back by as much as half, just use scissors or secateurs and snip off half the root system... it does them good anyway, and it's easier to pot up that way..
Here's a potted up bare root rose I did recently... I have nowhere to put it in the garden right now, so it will be good in this pot for several months, by which time I'll know which way I want to go with it.. these potted roses are what you also see in garden centres right now..
.. I order lots of roses and sometimes they just have to get potted up temporarily like this... they will flower well in these pots too, you should have lots of blooms in June, just like you would in the ground...
Now, let me go see if I need any more ...