We've managed to get a few things in the ground today. Everything is going to be so late, but sometimes that happens.
I spend part of the morning weeding out my small flower bed, the chickweed was trying to take over! Grrrrrr
My roses are starting to bloom and my lavender plants are coming along well. This is their 2nd year, so I expect to see more growth, but they should really jump next year.
Rule of thumb for all perennials:
1. The first year they sleep
2. The second year they creep
3. The third year they leap!!!
Roses can be the exception, depending on the type, but you do normally get much better bloom set the 3rd year. I'm very impressed with the progress of my Knockout varieties. I have a couple and wasn't real sure about them. Ok, I admit it, I am a bit of a rose snob.....LOL I love the antique and English roses. I have a few teas left, but I'm not doing those again, it's just to much work. And here in VA, black spot is our state rose problem! I found treating the roses with plain old cornmeal does the trick. You do have to make sure you get the area under your roses bushes as clean a possible. I just applied the corn meal (right off the grocer's shelf) heavily to both the leaves and the ground. I did it early in the morning while there was still a bit of "dew" on the bushes. Worked like a charm! I was dumbfound, that's the first time in almost 20 years I did not have a bit of black spot on any of my roses. Plus the bonus I had enough corn meal left over to bake up some corn bread! LOL
I'm going to do a Master Gardener Presentation later in the month on Growing Roses using Organic Methods. Hope to have a good crowd with good questions. That's always tons of fun!
I spend part of the morning weeding out my small flower bed, the chickweed was trying to take over! Grrrrrr
My roses are starting to bloom and my lavender plants are coming along well. This is their 2nd year, so I expect to see more growth, but they should really jump next year.
Rule of thumb for all perennials:
1. The first year they sleep
2. The second year they creep
3. The third year they leap!!!
Roses can be the exception, depending on the type, but you do normally get much better bloom set the 3rd year. I'm very impressed with the progress of my Knockout varieties. I have a couple and wasn't real sure about them. Ok, I admit it, I am a bit of a rose snob.....LOL I love the antique and English roses. I have a few teas left, but I'm not doing those again, it's just to much work. And here in VA, black spot is our state rose problem! I found treating the roses with plain old cornmeal does the trick. You do have to make sure you get the area under your roses bushes as clean a possible. I just applied the corn meal (right off the grocer's shelf) heavily to both the leaves and the ground. I did it early in the morning while there was still a bit of "dew" on the bushes. Worked like a charm! I was dumbfound, that's the first time in almost 20 years I did not have a bit of black spot on any of my roses. Plus the bonus I had enough corn meal left over to bake up some corn bread! LOL
I'm going to do a Master Gardener Presentation later in the month on Growing Roses using Organic Methods. Hope to have a good crowd with good questions. That's always tons of fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment