Organic Roses In The Flower Garden
By Sandra Dinkins-Wilson, Fri Dec 9th
Many people believe growing their flowers and vegetablesorganically is healthier for them and their environment. It isnatural that you may wish to grow your roses this way also.Using the pesticides and insecticides that are usuallyconsidered to go along with growing roses and keeping themhealthy can cause many people have to health problems . Maybeyou just don't want those kind of chemicals in your garden andaround your children. This article will give some pointers inusing more natural methods of growing your roses.
1. First do your homework and find out what type of roses growwell in your area. Buy disease resistant varieties. If you livein an area that has problems with a certain disease, look for avariety that is resistant to it. If you can, purchase organicroses. As they have already been growing with organic methods,this supposes they are "healthier". and not already loaded withchemicals. Thus they have a stronger immune system. Of course,buy roses with no blemishes on them.
2. Roses like full sun. Make sure they are placed so as to get 6to 8 hours of sunlight a day.
3. Do not crowd your roses together. Ensure that stress isreduced by providing lots of space for air to circulate aroundthe bush. Take growth of the rose bush into account.
4. Plant your roses in good loamy soil. If your soil is notideal, then amend it with organic material such as from yourcompost pile. You do have a compost pile, don't you? Roses likewell draining soil but they don't want it draining as fast asyou might get with sand, so amend your sandy soil. If you haveclay soil, an alternative requiring a bit of work is to build araised bed for your roses much like vegetable gardeners use. Itshould be at least a foot deep but more is better. Fill it withwill amended soil.
5. Keep your watering consistent. Don't allow your plants to dryout and suffer stress before watering. Roses can need up to 2inches of water a week. Water every two to three days. This, ofcourse, depends on your area and the type of weather (how muchrainfall) you are getting. Also, be careful not to stress theplant by overwatering and depriving the roots of oxgen.
6. Mulch, mulch, mulch! Mulching can reduce the stress on yourrose in several ways. It helps to hold in moisture which can bevery good in a hot,
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