|
Caring
For Your Roses
Roses are not fussy plants, but will provide bigger and more flowers if
looked after. The key tasks are feeding, dead-heading, weeding and
mulching.
|
What
To Do |
When |
Comments |
| Prune |
mid March
|
early April in cold areas. |
| Feed |
mid March
|
mid April in cold areas. |
| Mulch |
mid May
|
early June in cold areas. |
| Dead-head |
July
to end of flowering |
Do
not dead head if you want rose hips. |
| Water |
When
required |
See
notes below for roses to water. |
FEEDING ROSES
The best method of feeding is to use a fertiliser designed for roses
such as 'TopRose', however, any general purpose fertiliser will do the job.
March
Feed as the leaves begin to form. |
If
TopRose is being used, sprinkle about 4oz per square metre,
lightly working it into the soil surface. A couple of handfuls
of Growmore or similar will help if no rose feed is available. |
|
June
|
Feed
as in
March, but use half the amount. Water after feeding if
the weather is dry. |
|
July
|
Do
not feed after
July
- this will only encourage leaf growth at
the expense of flowers. |
DEAD-HEADING ROSES
Dead-heading is simply removing dead flowers at regular intervals. This
encourages the growth of more flowers later in the season. The flowers
can be pinched off with your fingers or a pair of secateurs.
With
floribundas, where several flowers are produced on each stem, cut the
stem, just below the truss of flowers.
WEEDING AND MULCHING
Roses have long tap roots to anchor them into the soil, but they
gain most of their food from their near-surface root system. It's
therefore important to keep the weeds under control. Mulching with
well-rotted organic material does this job well and also provides a slow
feed of nutrients.
The best time to mulch is late Spring - the soil is moist but at the
same time is warming up.
If weeding is required, don't dig around the plants - weed by hand or on
the surface with a hoe.
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