With the cold weather we have had I finally got the hard garden till last week. I was short on time with having to uncover the roses so I did not add anything to the soil just tilled it and planted what I could before sundown, actually till it got too dark to see. We had, had light rain so the top eigth inch was wet, but under it at time I had dust. It tilled a little easier than I though but maybe because I was not struggling through wet soil. In the expected hard spot it wanted to run-away on me acouple of times , but even that broke-up a little easie than the year before. Although it was really too dry for good planting it was near ideal condtions working in the garden not having to worry about clumps of soil sticking to the tools and shoes. The worst area is still unplanted so I will amend that before I plant there. One thing I noticed is that the garden soil is now more of a dark, dark brown when not wet; whereas the rose soil is just plain black, or charcoal grey when it is not wet. Roaes, looked good even though under their blanket it was probably too warm and at least the top cover should have been removed two-weeks ago. I lost, or think I lost, I mean cannot find, not died, a rose but I will not know for sure untill a rose bud pops up out of nowhere. I am done with burying the roses. In that black-gumbo it is just plain misery to dig them up in the spring. In the past five years, I have lost, died, so many roses that the gaps between them is large enough I may dig out the dirt between them. Put it in the vegetable garden and take the best soil from the vegetable garden and put it between the roses. I do not know if it will help, but it cannot hurt. We had a couple of inches yesterday, so everything in the ground should be well off now.

Straw bales exposed to weather can develop toxic molds inside just as in hay bales do. If, when you break that bale open, you find a white mold due care should be practiced in further handling. Straw often has seeds of what it grew that do germinate and grow, giving you more of what is in that straw bale, the wheat, oats, rye, barley, etc. or what could now be a green manure or cover crop. Moisture, in large enough quantities, can displace the air in soil, or soilless mixes, which can then allow anaeorbic (absence of air) bacteria to develop. Those anaerobic bacteria can produce unpleasant odors. Spread that mix out so it can dry some which will stay those anaerobic bacteria.

Jeri: As always thank you for your advice. Few more questions. My rose bed is the only sunny part in the yard so beside roses all my other sun loving plants get dumped there too. Thins like Oriental Lilies, Mary Gold ( to cover the base of the roses), and maybe a new set of perennial since I am re-doing the bed. Can bulbs, coneflowers or other deciduous plants push through the mulch in spring by themselves or it has to be removed for them? Is the mulch you mentioned the very fine and almost like compost/dirt kind? What happens if in the processes of planting new stuff dirt gets mixed with it? Does it have to be topped off every year or every other year to keep it clean and fresh looking? Can compost be used mulch? Sorry for long list of questions but these issues always kept me from mulching. I mulched one bed with redwood chips last year and in process of replacing 6 plants, the chips all got mixed with soil and it is a very ugly sight.

Oh, forgot to mention, that big pink rock in pictures number 6 and 7 is not a MI rock. It is what my family calls a 'Nebraska Farm Rock' picked from a field on the farm where my sisters and I grew up :-) One of my sisters and her husband went out with a truck and a front end loader and hauled a pile of them home before we ended up selling the family farm a few years ago after my parents had both passed on. I remember having to go out in that pasture and pick up rocks (piled them on the edge of the field) every year or two. It is not one of my most enjoyable growing up on the farm memories, but it wasn't all that bad either!