Another satisfied rose-tone user here. For grass, I keep a bare border about a foot wide around my beds to prevent bermuda infiltration. Weeds or grass that pop up in the beds are removed manually.

I use Rose-Tone also. I make manure tea from Annies and I use Montys in my fungicide spray. I also add alfalfa during the growing season. I have raised beds and do not have a problem with grass. I just finished weeding today the old fashioned way...digging out. I will mulch soon before things start coming up.I am in KY, 6a. I did notice all my roses have swelling buds, but no pruning here for another month! They might be leafed out by then!!! Good luck with your garden. I know it will be lovely.

I do organic for my garden, but my roses get Osmocote 1/4 cup per rose... The stuff for outdoor plants with the pink cap. I put it on in March and then I am done for the year. I get great growth, great blooms and great repeat... Each fall I grind up the canes and throw them back on the rose bed. We don't have diseases here, so it works for a little winter protection. That's it. Easy!

Lillyfinch,

If you are using manure, you don't need Rosetone. Manures are a complete fertilizer by themselves. Adding Rosetone to that is too much fertilizer. If you don't get your load of gold, then use RT.

I put down a layer of manure every year, and also use Espoma Rose-tone (or Holly-tone, which ever costs less) 3 - 4 times a season. Not too much fertilizer for my garden. Maybe an added cup of alfalfa meal when I remember (although the "Tones" include alfalfa as an ingredient).

Weeds. What has worked for me is to dig up as much as I can. Put down some Preen (much howling to commence shortly). Put down 6 layers of newspaper, some folks use cardboard. Wet the newspaper. Cover the newspaper with mulch (I use cedar). When the newspaper and much start to decompose (which is a good thing), repeat.

Excellent discussion starter, Lilyfinch!

While I don't have any great organized program, I do make a point to add alfalfa pellets and milorganite to the roses in the spring. I used to make a great brew of fish emulsion, superthrive, miracle grow, epsom salts, milorganite and alfalfa in a tub of water, but I haven't had the time to do that in the past few years, and the roses didn't seem to mind. I started by using that recipe on my daylilies, and since some beds have both roses and daylilies, the roses got the same treatment.

Luckily, I have a wide open space and the tree companies come and dump shredded mulch here a couple of times a year. I use that for winter protection and also as a weed deterrent in some beds. The bottom of that pile is now black gold!

My other weed deterrent is underplanting with sedums, mainly that plain green sedum that spreads so nicely. The Angelina sedum that came out a few years ago is much better, so I'm spreading cuttings through the beds. I also use nepeta, veronica, (such as 'Waterperry), dianthus, and creeping phlox.

I try hard not to disturb the soil and bring up any weed seeds, but any time I plant something, I do end up with a few weeds that I need to pull.

Bermuda grass is my worst enemy, and I've tried using chemicals to knock it down, but the fight is continual. I have some sort of nasty wild garlic that spreads bulbs everywhere and it is impossible to dig or kill, so that's another headache. Any suggestions on that? It is pretty, but it takes over the beds, and the bulbs work deeper and deeper and get into the root systems of the roses. I found that out when I had to move a rose last year.

Spring has come early this year, too early, and my roses are already leafing out! We've had several days in the upper 70s and 80s and I'm terrified that we'll have a late bitter cold snap and everything will get frozen to the ground. Nothing I can do about it, but I know from past experience that some roses won't survive if that does happen. I'm in south central Kansas, zone 6, and we have not had a decent snow yet this winter. Our soil is so dry that I have been watering this past week. Like Huckdog said, it's too early to prune, but the plants think otherwise.

lilyfinch

I agree this is a great thread. You are so very lucky to have a supply of composted manure. Your plants must be very happy. I used to have a large load dumped here every year. Currently thou there are not any dump truck drivers to bring it. I've also used fertilizer that I mix myself from 50 lbs bags. That included alfalfa meal, cotton seed meal, fish meal, epsom salt, green sand. Then milorganite for nitrogen and I've made the teas. Now that age is creeping up it's a little easier to get the bags from a local nursery that include all of these ingredients. I also like liquid fish and seaweed fertilizers so do the plants and raccoons.

This year I think I've decided on a spring application of the bags from Hornbakers Gardens. Then applications of Neptune's fertilizer for roses the rest of the year. I still need a little extra nitrogen since we a many near by trees. Some people don't like milorganite but thats what I'll be using.

Cindy we have a wooded area behind us that once was filled with pretty woodland flowers. It's now filled with nasty wild garlic mustard. I need to pull that as soon as I see the first leaf in the garden or it becomes a nightmare weed.

As far as my weeds they are not to awful if I can afford to keep the ground covered with something. Lately thats meant dry leaves and straw. There is still hand pulling that must be done as the season wears on.

I agree with Dan on the manure being a complete fertilizer. If applied only in spring I'd follow up with fish and seaweed.

I like the Idea of ground cover around the rose shrubs. I have Strawberries. I like the Idea of Veronica Waterperry Blue , lithadora, creeping phlox and Lupines.

If you want to get rid of grass try ortho grass b gone. It works!!! I've used it to get rid of Bermuda grass with great success. It might take two passes but it will die. It comes premixed in a spray bottle. I keep a bottle of it on hand and a bottle of a sedge grass killer to spray when ever I see that stuff trying to grow.

Grace e

I am due to put around my roses Mills Magic Rose Mix, Epsom salts, alfalfa pellets. This year, on advice from a fellow rosarian, I am including some Ortho Plus in the pink bottle. I raise horses so have a good supply of well rotted compost. Am reworking some of my beds, putting a layer of that then a layer of this great soil I have brought in which is a mix of bark fines, sand, mushroom compost. It is great stuff! I will top dress with these 2 things then put on mulch. I am really going to be better about mulching this year in hopes to better combat the weeds. I plan to start spraying as soon as I can with Mancozeb, and try to be religious about it, and put fish emulsion in with it. I have a bunch of different kinds of fertilizer that I am going to use, to coin Kim's phrase, "weakly, weekly". I will probably not get around to that.....but I think even sporadically the roses will appreciate it.

I am finally getting my pot ghetto in order. Anyone else have one of these? I have a fenced in area made, a layer of clay put down, then nursery fabric on top of that. I have made signs for each row of roses - Vintage Gardens, Austins, OGRs, etc. I am in process of moving all the potted ones there now, and just set up the water hose this evening and watered everything. This is going to make it so much more organized to take care of all these pots! They will be in one spot, in excellent light but with afternoon shade, and I can more easily take care of them AND they wont be cluttering up the front of my barn! I am going to repot the ones that need it - and have made a list of all of them. Maybe someday I might even plant them in the ground!

I have a list of "rose recipes" for fertilizing that I rarely get around to making, but its fun to look at [rather like all my cookbooks!] The grand plan is to get the beds all taken care of and mulched then I can work on growing out the pot ghetto and making new beds a bit at a time. I seem to buy roses faster than I can get them planted.........

What an enjoyable thread!.................Judith