Oh Marion, I love your rose, truly stunning. We have quite a few ( pretty ordanary compared to yours) roses but despite spraying and feeding them they always end the season looking very sad and covered in blackspot.
Aah, blackspot. I keep a beady eye out for that and pick the leaves off as soon as I see they have it. Seems to work as well as checking the soil around the bush is clean of weeds and unrotted leaves.
Thanks Marion, I am good at picking up dropped leaves and burning them but have never picked infected leaves from the rose. I spray when I notice the first signs, may I ask if you ever use spray on yours.
None whatsoever as i am totally organic and the garden has been for 51 years at least so is now very much in equilibrium with nature doing its bit against pests and diseases. But I do find it helpful to grow garlic under my tall Queen Elizabeth roses - there are eight of them, very large and very tall so even elephant garlic will grow under them. When I was studying biology at Bristol University I remember when we did our unit on microbiology the lecturer said the best way to fight blight, fungus etc in a garden was good husbandry so I have always aimed for that.
Thanks Marion that is very interesting. I do so hate using chemicals and the blackspot spray is the only one I do use simply because my roses end up leaf less . I will try garlic......can I use the bulbs used in cooking?
Yes,flowers in the rain, and put them in from now onwards. One bulb should give you quite a few cloves. Space the cloves about a foot apart and remember to plant them about the depth of the clove under the top of the soil, not like onions and shallots which sit on top of the soil.
Posts
Oh Marion, I love your rose, truly stunning. We have quite a few ( pretty ordanary compared to yours) roses but despite spraying and feeding them they always end the season looking very sad and covered in blackspot.
Aah, blackspot. I keep a beady eye out for that and pick the leaves off as soon as I see they have it. Seems to work as well as checking the soil around the bush is clean of weeds and unrotted leaves.
Thanks Marion, I am good at picking up dropped leaves and burning them but have never picked infected leaves from the rose. I spray when I notice the first signs, may I ask if you ever use spray on yours.
None whatsoever as i am totally organic and the garden has been for 51 years at least so is now very much in equilibrium with nature doing its bit against pests and diseases. But I do find it helpful to grow garlic under my tall Queen Elizabeth roses - there are eight of them, very large and very tall so even elephant garlic will grow under them. When I was studying biology at Bristol University I remember when we did our unit on microbiology the lecturer said the best way to fight blight, fungus etc in a garden was good husbandry so I have always aimed for that.
Thanks Marion that is very interesting. I do so hate using chemicals and the blackspot spray is the only one I do use simply because my roses end up leaf less . I will try garlic......can I use the bulbs used in cooking?
Yes,flowers in the rain, and put them in from now onwards. One bulb should give you quite a few cloves. Space the cloves about a foot apart and remember to plant them about the depth of the clove under the top of the soil, not like onions and shallots which sit on top of the soil.
Another fine gardening day has dawned and oh what a riot of colour greeted me when I went to deadhead in the conservatory. I ran for the camera.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
TY Verdun. Are you OK Dovefromabove? No text!