Memorial Garden Rose Beds.

MY PENNINE WAY PICTURE FOR TODAY

Approaching Widdybank Farm,

a really idylic place by the river.

Cauldron Snout.

TODAYS WEATHER READINGS
Temp Low: 5C
Temp High: 9C
Feels Like: 1 to 4C
Precipitation: 0 mm
Wind Speed: 43 mph
Wind Direction: W
UV Index: Low
Weather: Cloudy.

MY WORK BOOK

See to the bins
Hall
Thu 26/02/2009 08:30
Thu 26/02/2009 08:45
15 minutes
Put the black bins back and put out recycle tubs.

Fetch crib
Church
Misc
Thu 26/02/2009 08:45
Thu 26/02/2009 09:30
45 minutes
Went to fetch the crib from the church and put to store in the barn.

See to the sheep
Field
Misc
Thu 26/02/2009 09:30
Thu 26/02/2009 09:45
15 minutes
Checked and counted the sheep

See to the greenhouses
Greenhouses
Greenhouse, Conservatory
Thu 26/02/2009 09:45
Thu 26/02/2009 10:00
15 minutes
1) Took off some dead leaves.
2) watered and staked the orchids.
3) checked round.
4) sprayed rubber plant against aphids.

Pruning
Memorial Garden
Walled Garden
Thu 26/02/2009 10:00
Thu 26/02/2009 10:30
30 minutes
Pruned the roses.

Break for tea
Home
Misc
Thu 26/02/2009 10:30
Thu 26/02/2009 10:50
20 minutes

Pruning
Memorial Gardens
Walled Garden
Thu 26/02/2009 10:50
Thu 26/02/2009 12:20
1.5 hours
Finished pruning the roses.

Carting leaf mould
Memorial Gardens
Walled Garden
Thu 26/02/2009 12:15
Thu 26/02/2009 12:45
30 minutes
Fetched half a load of leaf mould from my pile in the woods. (Note 1)

Break for lunch
Home
Misc
Thu 26/02/2009 12:45
Thu 26/02/2009 13:30
45 minutes

Carting manure
Horse field
Misc
Thu 26/02/2009 13:30
Thu 26/02/2009 14:00
30 minutes

Forking
Memorial Gardens
Walled Garden
Thu 26/02/2009 14:00
Thu 26/02/2009 15:00
1 hour Forking over one of the memorial beds

Shopping
Garden centre Misc
Thu 26/02/2009 15:00
Thu 26/02/2009 15:45
45 minutes
Went for some bone meal and pelleted chicken manure.

Forking
Memorial Gardens
Walled Garden
Thu 26/02/2009 15:45
Thu 26/02/2009 16:30
45 minutes
Finished off forking over the memorial garden rose beds.

Clean and put away the tools
Potting Shed Potting
Thu 26/02/2009 16:30
Thu 26/02/2009 16:50
20 minutes

Office work
Home
Misc
Thu 26/02/2009 16:50
Thu 26/02/2009 17:00
10 minutes
Sent off for a tree and shrub catalogue.

NOTE
1) There are two rose beds in the memorial gardens so just for a bit of fun I’ve forked in some horse manure as with the rest of the rose beds and the other I’m going to top dress it with leaf mould and a dressing of pelleted chicken manure and bone meal, all forked in of course. The latter option being much easier than the first, especially as I didn’t HAVE to cart the leaf mould to apply the feed had I not wanted too. I just want to see if horse manure is as good as people say it is. It certainly needs to give better results to make it worthwhile all the extra time and effort it takes to apply it.


COMMENTS FROM THE POTTING SHED
Sara I think the rose borders would look much better planted up with perennials all flowing over the stone walk ways. You could still have some roses in there if you wanted.
EB I wish you were my boss as I’m sure the gardens would be far more interesting. I agree, six months of the year the rose garden is stark and even when in flower it never looks especially tidy and then you have all the usual black spot problems. I’ve seen them under planted with lavender and they look better for it.
Jeanette It sounds to me like you’re doing pretty much the right thing. I give ours a light prune in the summer after flowering. When people dead head roses they tend to go round snipping off each individual flower but I find the best way is to prune back the whole stem at one go about 2 or 3 buds down from the old flower which is sort of giving it a light prune. This is also the way to dead head Dahlia’s too, don’t just snip off the old flower or you end up with a lot of dead stalks.
The Weaver of Grass Spring did seem closer at the beginning of the week but it’s felt quite a bit colder today – the body warmer was back on! I don’t mind climbing roses too much. They aren’t so back breaking and they can look good trained on a wall or even left to ramble up in to a tree.