Gardening Help?

**piston broke** · 4th December 2008, 20:02

i agree with mom.
if you can, don't dig the soil.if you do you just screw up all the work that the worms have done to aerate(sp)the soil and put the best stuff on the top

**Usarka** · 5th December 2008, 09:00

Originally Posted by Pussy

Who you trying to impress, Usarka?

I couldn't impress silly putty so stopped trying years ago.

It's a "memorial" garden..... albeit a realistically sized one

**McDuck** · 5th December 2008, 14:38

REMOVE THE MINT NOW!!!

If you leave it till tomorow bit will havetaken over!

**McDuck** · 5th December 2008, 14:59

Also regard the digging comment ofton compaction can happen natrally. if this has happened you will need to cultivate. If you can dig the soil with your hands (given working hard) then it is fine otherwise dig it over a little.

**Usarka** · 5th December 2008, 21:20

Originally Posted by McDuck

REMOVE THE MINT NOW!!!

If you leave it till tomorow bit will havetaken over!

Yeah that shit has some serious roots eh..... spent hours digging it out, didn't realise it was such a weed.

Next question (don't worry Mom I'll PM you if you don't read this

) - can someone give me a complete idiots guide to pruining roses??????? The bushes are getting hooooooj and the flowers are getting browwwn.

Thanks for all the tips (bahahahahaha tips

) i hope me mum would be proud.

**Pedrostt500** · 5th December 2008, 21:32

hire a 20 ton digger, remove any thing that is not your house garage or concrete, phone Firths and plant 6 inches of concrete.
Pedros No 1 gardening tip.

**Usarka** · 5th December 2008, 22:12

Originally Posted by Pedrostt500

hire a 20 ton digger, remove any thing that is not your house garage or concrete, phone Firths and plant 6 inches of concrete.
Pedros No 1 gardening tip.

I like your style pedro but the landlord might not

btw - concreting all your section is illegal

shhhhhhh

**McDuck** · 5th December 2008, 22:19

Originally Posted by Usarka

Yeah that shit has some serious roots eh..... spent hours digging it out, didn't realise it was such a weed.

Next question (don't worry Mom I'll PM you if you don't read this

) - can someone give me a complete idiots guide to pruining roses??????? The bushes are getting hooooooj and the flowers are getting browwwn.

Hi. Remove dead flowers and any growth that is in the way (ie grabbing you as you walk past). If you are cutting back a branch cut back to a node (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_stem). Once this is done give it a spray with copper, spraying oil (form mitor 10 etc, most have a rose forumular, follow directions) etc. A 10 doller sprayer from wherehouse is fine. Once this si done enjoy them till ither they start getting insects (aphids http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid are the main ones) and little black fungial spots called black spot. once you see ither of these spray with this combo. Another insect that roses get is a insect called scale. This is a small scale ofotn on the underside of leafs. The best way to deal with this rmoving them with fingers etc and spray with e SYSTEMIC insecticide. This should say ont he packet, i can think of the name of one off hand.

Maintain the rose like this till winter. Once winter has arived you need to do the winter prune. This involves cutting the rose back to '3 buds' up form the ground on each main cane. There should be between 2 and four. When pruning be mindfull that you can 'stear' the plant by cutting to a node that is pointing in the direction you want the plant to go in. (or not go in in terms of pathways etc).
Once you have done the winter prune give it a spray with a stong dose of the above recomendations.

Another thing to remeber is the rose will flower around 65 days after pruning so if you are planning an event etc.

Any question just ask

**klingon** · 8th December 2008, 09:42

Originally Posted by McDuck

Hi. Remove dead flowers and any growth that is in the way (ie grabbing you as you walk past). ...

...Maintain the rose like this till winter.

Excellent advice from McDuck. Do as he says!

The key thing here is the difference between summer pruning (little snips here and there to keep it all looking tidy) and winter pruning (where you can really cut it back hard). They serve two different purposes.

Later in the year when you're going to do your winter pruning it might be worth getting someone to demonstrate it for you and show you what you're meant to do. Do you have any elderly gardeners in your area who have nice roses? I'm sure one of them would be delighted if you asked them to show you how to prune a rose.