After my wife and I decided on the area where we were going to plant our rose garden, here are the steps I followed to prepare the area for planting:
Cut out and remove grass
I followed the same steps I used when creating the herb garden. Go check out what I did by reading the following articles:
Herb Garden – Step 1 – Mark out your area
Herb Garden – Step 2 – Remove the grass
Create proper edges
Using the spade, I created really defined (and about 15cm deep) edges for the rose garden. I wanted a properly defined area, where the grass and the soil would not meet. I also decided not to use straight lines for the edges, hoping that the curves would add to the beauty that this garden will soon be.
Lay edging panels
Every time we go to the nursery, we get plastic “sheeting” to lay down in the car to prevent it from getting dirty. I used this to line the edges that I had cut out to prevent the grass from spreading into the rose garden’s soil. I know I will still be taking out weeds and grass, but this will hopefully minimise that.
I bought little wooden poles (about 25cm long) that I am using to create a decorative edging for the garden. So, making sure I had plastic in between these poles and the edge (where the grass stops), I placed the poles in the soil, trying to make sure that they were lined up.
Here is what it looked like just before finishing this process:
(You’ll have to excuse the bad quality of this and other photos, due to the fact that my digital camera is not working, and I’ve had to use the shocking camera on my iMate KJam)
Yo Mr Gecko
I recently purchased a new home with quite a large garden space. There were some rose bushes but scattered all round the garden. I replanted the roses (type of rose garden) togther but well spaced. I also bought rose fertilzer and mixed some bone meal. The soil consists mostly of compost and mulch (bark). So far only one rose has flowered and lasted only 2 days. The rest of the roses appear to be dying. Any hints or are my fingers not green enough yet?
Cheers
Russell
Hmmm… I’m not going to pretend I know exactly what’s going on as I’m also in the learning phase, but there are a few things I’ve noticed:
– Roses (and other plants) can get “stressed” when you move them, and might need time to settle in
– A lot of water can make the leaves go brown, making it look like it’s dying
– Make sure you’re feeding your roses. The right mulch isn’t really all that’s needed, according to the pro I spoke to. He said to make sure I feed the roses every 2 weeks with an 8:1:5 solution. But careful, because this can burn the plant, so read the instructions carefully
– And, of course, make sure you’re spraying your roses to protect them (while in the sensitive phase)
I would REALLY appreciate it if you could come back and leave a comment to let me know how it all turns out, so that I can learn from your experiences as well…
Thanks.