Lol, you are quite the lady farmer, Carol! Sounds hectic and fun! To spray for black spot get some Bayer Disease Control. Be careful to read the label and do not get any of the Bayer products that say 2 in 1 or 3 in 1. You just want the plain disease control for black spot. Then read the label and follow the directions carefully and you should be fine. Yes, start watering! Once they're green and leafing out they need about an inch of rain a week and if you're not getting any rain then you need to water. If you want to know how much an inch of water is put an empty tuna fish can down on the ground among the roses and run the sprinkler until it's full. Yes, if you've had any frosts or freezes those crunchy leaves are probably damage from it. I have some on mine too. I have just left them on. Eventually they'll probably drop on their own when new leaves push out from those canes. Unless the canes look yellowed, black or withered up then it's probably only those leaves that have been affected and not the canes. The buds could be small for any number of reasons but most likely, again, from the cold weather. A lot of my roses jumped out really quick in March when we had that really warm spell. Then April came along and really cooled things down fast and my roses just stopped growing and have been in a sort of holding pattern waiting for some more warm weather. I have lots of buds out there that haven't grown a millimeter in weeks. Once things warm back up they should put on some more growth more quickly for you. Yes, feed them. I usually start out in the early spring with a good granular slow release fertilizer scratched into the soil around the drip line of the rose. After that I'll start using water soluble foliar fertilizers about every 2 weeks. Any kind will do. I've used Miracle Grow, Spray n Grow, Peters and any number of others and they all work fine. I usually get which ever one Home Depot or Lowes has on sale the week I need to buy more. There are a lot of other organic things you can also add to your feedings like fish emulsion or alfalfa but that's up to you and while helpful are not mandatory. I hope I answered all your questions and I hope my answers were clear and helpful. I'm sure others will have more suggestions too. But most of all, please, do not stress over your roses. They're very tough AND forgiving and not nearly as hard to grow as "they" make them out to be. Remember to take time to just ENJOY your roses!

Here are some eggplant recepie1: With a bumper crop of tomatoes and eggplants, nowadays I cook these often. A- Eggplant parmesan(google it ) B- my recepie: I grow and use asian varieties but you can do with others to: \These are approximate portions\\ -- 1 lb eggplant -- 1 lb tomato -- 1 whole garlic -- 1 teaspoon lemon/lime juice -- 2-3 EGGS -- salt/pepper to tase DIRECTIONS: 1-puncture eggplants with fork 2- cut the top of whole garlic(just the tips of cloves) 3- wrap garlic in al.foil 4- put eggplants, garlic in 350F oven (place eggplant on a rack with drip catcher under it. Bake for one hour (longer if eggplants are tooo fat). while eggplants/garlic baking do following: 5- dip tomatoes in boiling water (5-10 sec), then put in ice water. 6- Saute some onions (half of medium) 7- brake eggs, separate yokes and whites.Beat them. 8- peel, core, cut into pieces the tomatoes, start boiling them in a pot, add sauted onions,salt/pepper, continue simmering @ low heat. 9- when 1 hr time is up, take out eggplants/garlic from oven, let them cool so you can handle them. 10- cut eggplants lengthwise, scrape the inside (w/knif or spoon), get rid of skin, lightly chop them 11- Press the garlic to get the soft part out, chop it. 12 - Add eggplants/garlic to tomatoes, continue simmering until has a good thick consistency. 13 - with a spoon pour egg yoke drop , here and there (do not mix, you want to see the color ) 14- before serving, do the same with egg whites, Again, little bit at a time, here and there, NO mixing, add lemon juice. Voilla! This can be an appetizer or just a meal if there is enough of it to go around. This is in a way like Italian "eggplant Parmesan", which eggs are used instead of cheese, ang eggplants are baked instead of frying.

Decided to add this to an existing thread instead of starting a new one to make it easier for the next person who searches this topic ; ) i have a recipe from Edon Waycott's book 'preserving the taste'. i made it several years ago and remember that it was pretty tasty but that i couldn't get a good seal and was dubious about the safety anyway so i just refrigerated it and ate it. After reading a few eggplant threads i'm pretty sure that was the right decision. The recipe includes eggplants, peppers, olive oil, garlic, red pepper, salt and basil. Not safe, right? There's another recipe that i plan to try-this one calls for dehydrating sliced eggplant and then freezing it. It can be added to pizza, salad or tomato sauce. Most of the posts i've read mention that frozen eggplant gets soggy and this seems like a way to avoid that. i'll post it here so others can give it a go. *********************************************************** Oven-Dried Herbed Eggplant Slices 3# Japanese eggplant, sliced 1/2" thick 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 2 Tbs chopped fresh basil 1 Tbs chopped fresh marjoram 1 Tbs chopped fresh thyme 1/3 c. olive oil Combine all ingredients except eggplant. layer eggplant on baking sheets and brush both sides with mixture. Place in center of oven at lowest setting for 24 hours undisturbed. Remove from oven, cool completely to room temperature and pack in freezer bags, expelling as much air as possible, before freezing.

I'll microwave them to just eat them by themselves. Or you could reheat in the oven, or even skillet heat them a bit. For eggplant parmesan, I don't thaw them out and just make up the dish then put in the oven. I don't usually make up the casserole ahead of time for the freezer, but I do put the leftover eggplant parmesan in the disposable foil pans for a "free" meal later. Another good dish with the eggplant is to slice it really thin longways, then bread and fry like you were making eggplant parmesan. When cooked, spread with a cream cheese mix with whatever seasonings and herbs you want, seems like I used basil or oregano. Roll up your slice jelly-roll style and secure with a toothpick. Eggplant rollatini. Makes a good appetizer, Check online for the recipes. Seems like I served sauce over them or to dip them in. They can be frozen, too, and thaw them to spread with the cream cheese.