Getting the Roses Going, Mulching, Weeding,

I have two Chaste Trees, but they are slow to mature.

Two yard helpers asked about getting their bare root roses to come out of dormancy. They have late arriving rainbow roses. The first bare root rose I planted this year just sprouted leaves, so I know about looking at the same green canes every day, waiting like the poor souls in Casablanca.

I emailed these tips for making the leaves pop -

1. Keep the canes moist. Water them every other day, not just the soil, but the canes, which are like sponges. They dry out easily in the hot sun and drying winds.

2. Mulch the roses with leaves, cardboard, or grass. This holds the water in longer and feeds the soil creatures.

3. Prune a little off the tip of each cane. If some tips look brown in a few days, prune again. Pruning wakes them up.

4. Save rainwater for them. Second best is water stored for 24 hours or more - chlorine evaporates out.

I never use chemical rose fertilizer because the short-term and long-term effects are bad. Likewise, insecticides and fungicides are never considered. I have a little blackspot on roses, a fungus, but not enough to bother anyone. Those who spray never stop. spraying. 

Given that the Creator has an entire system for 

• fertilizing (molds and decomposition), 
• providing mutliple layers of insect protection (birds, beneficial insects, spiders, toads), and
• plants offering carbon to soil fungus in return for food and water -

why defeat divine engineering and management with haphazard human methods?

The LCMS has a pastor named Weedon, so I wondered if he would some day publish a book - Garden Success, by Weedon. He could have a whole series of books.

1. Beautiful Roses - by Weedon.
2. How I Lost 30 Pounds and Built a Blueberry Farm - by Weedon
3. Create Effective Compost Piles - by Weedon.

I have a soft spot for weeds. First of all, I learned how important they are for the soil. Deeply rooted plants are much better for the soil than covering the surface with organic matter. (Why not try both?) 

I have a lot of roses in the front yard, but no lawn. I now look on weeds and various bushes as essential soil improvers.Here are common weeds that I appreciate for their root systems, which open up the clay soil and provide most of the organic matter there:

• Hog Weed - a legume that stores usable nitrogen in its roots, which cannot be budged. If it is in the way, I cut the plant at the base. It will regrow and continue to help the soil.
• Dandelion - an herb with bad PR. The roots improve the soil and the flowers feed the insects. Birds use the parachute seeds for their nests, and the leaves are very nutricious for salads.
• Poke Weed can be enormous, but it is also easy to cut off at the base. Deep roots mean it mines nutrition from deep down up to the surface. Poke also feeds beneficial insects (flowers) and birds (berries). Poke opens up the clay soil for earthworm movement up and rain penetration down. In a long, powerful storm, other yards gush water and top soil. My deeply rooted plants store it. Deeply rooted plants that come back are building the soil so do not despise them. With my extended family of squirrels, I have nut trees growing everywhere, especially among the well-tended roses.
• Plantain and Fire Weed grow easily but do not get in the way.

Most Comfrey is pretty sloppy looking, but it is an organic gardener's favorite.
AKA Knitbone.

Some deeply rooted plants and bushes are:

1. Spirea
2. Mountain Mint
3. Comfrey
4. Joe Pye Weed

Roses are so cool because we plant two-year plants, so they bloom in a month or so. In contrast, we can spend almost as much for each non-rose bush. For instance, many roses sell for $15 over the Net. Many bushes are near or above that price. Most plants from the Net cost $6 or more, $10 at local stores. 

Most of these plants will spend the first summer getting established and begging for water. I divided some daisies and the new daisies responded by demanding water every other day. The mother plants are doing fine and ready to bloom. The difference - established roots.

 Once mature, unkillable.

My experience is that the plants on the Net or in a catalogue are fully established adult versions. They bloom like that in the third year. My advantage is that I had a wholesale nursery next door and got spirea and other plants for a song. They are only starting to reach their potential now. Meanwhile, roses are running circles around them.

Yesterday, I had three vases of fresh roses. Today I took them to three neighbors - great fun. The roses I took away from the bushes have been replaced by new ones. John 15 - the fruitful branches are pruned to make them even more fruitful.

Spirea with blooms - very colorful.
Before maturing - why I did plant that?