I've fed the roses at the allotment this morning. Kew Gardens is looking much happier this year.
Already starting to see the bind weed and horsetail coming up. That's what they've got to contend with. Fortunately the bind weed was coming up relatively easily.
It does weaken over time if you keep pulling it out.
I've also got some pond plants coming today. Frogbit - to cover the surface a bit more and reduce the algae growth.
@Mr. Vine Eye, I've got bindweed coming up all over one particular bed and heading for some roses so I've ordered a super strong glyphosate to deal with it. Still pulling it out after 16 years! I'm going to try sinking a small glass bottle filled with weedkiller beside as many strands as I can and then poking the strands into the bottle. I think somebody on the Forum suggested this so I'm going to give it a go.
Hello lovely people, I have a quick q about training a climbing rose!! City of york is going great guns this year and I am thrilled, it’s putting out a lot of vertical shoots off of the horizontal stems, should I train these along the wires above (and add the third wire at the top while I’m at it!)? If they’re bendy enough I might train them in swirls if that makes any sense!
After getting excited at the new leaves appearing on the generous gardener I’m back in frustrated territory- it’s covered in aphids and looking sad again. I’ve done some squishing and sprayed it with the hose, but not sure that’s enough. Some of the canes are a bit speckled near the top and don’t look healthy. Any advice?
@agnasia last year I used to hose them, with no effect.. This year I am squishing them whenever I see them.. if I am losing a new buds/ leaves then I prune the tip to the nearest node to stimulate new growth.. most of them produce new growth even without pruning...
Honestly I am beginning to believe in the tea solution. Last year I had aphids before I started applying spent tea leaves and I squashed millions. After tea dosing the rest of the season improved tons. This year I deliberately started early and I haven't seen more than 3 tips with aphids on. We drink loose black breakfast tea 2 to 3 times a day and just go round the roses with our spent leaves. Each rose probably gets a heaped tablespoon of wet tea leaves every fortnight.
Posts
Already starting to see the bind weed and horsetail coming up. That's what they've got to contend with. Fortunately the bind weed was coming up relatively easily.
It does weaken over time if you keep pulling it out.
I've also got some pond plants coming today. Frogbit - to cover the surface a bit more and reduce the algae growth.
I've also found some buds on some of my roses this afternoon.
Olivia Rose Austin
Baroness Rothschild
For Your Eyes Only
Grosvenor House
Oranges and Lemons
They are all quite young plants, planted in the last 3 years.
I took this photo 15th Dec, first juvenile leaves on 'Kathleen Harrop'.. after a night of -8C... several nights in Jan with similar temps..
4 months later and this same shoot is likely to produce my first bloom..
..another bud on the same rose..
..this rose grows in my darkest spot, no sun in winter, and not much any other time..