Essential Tools in My Rose Garden

There are three main tasks in the rose garden- planting, pruning and weeding. I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past thirty years or so, using a variety of tools and have some ideas on which ones work best.

For planting, I swear by the King of Spades Nursery Spade. It is all steel with a zinc plated rust resistant finish. The blade is 13” long. This spade has a D grip handle and a rubber foot pad that can be mounted on either side of the spade adding more cushion to protect your foot. It takes all the abuse you can give it and is none the worse for wear. I’ve gone through so many “lifetime guaranteed” spades. This spade will outlast me! I like the weight and size. You can order it through A.M. Leonard, (www.amleo.com).

When I first started pruning roses, I didn’t know the difference between an anvil and a by-pass pruner. In case you didn't know, you never want to use an anvil pruner. It will compress and damage plant tissue. I don’t know why anyone would ever use one. There are so many different brands and styles of by-pass pruner. Like shoes you have to try them on for size. The cheap ones are just that - cheap and not worth using. You can spend way too much money though, on a pair of good pruners. I’ve found the Corona ¾ inch capacity 7 7/8 inch overall length to be the best buy for the money. This brand and style has served me well. You can order it through A.M. Leonard as well, (www.amleo.com). I am hoping to try out some of the newer ergonomically designed pruners this summer and will let you know what I think of them.

I spend countless hours on my knees weeding hundreds of feet of rose beds despite my best mulching efforts. I used to swear by the Hori-Hori Knife for weeding. The name means “dig-dig.” This knife was long enough and strong enough to dig out the taproots of dandelions. It came with a leather sheath that fastened to my belt. I wore it every day through the gardening season. One problem was that even when wearing gloves, I’d often develop a blister in the palm of my hand after using it for extended periods of time. This spring, I discovered the Perennial Planter. What a joy. It is hand-made in Holland and the most efficient weeder I’ve ever laid my hands on. Weeding goes so much faster. No blisters in my palms. The long T handle is comfortable and lets me apply greater force using my whole arm. Not only can I easily dig out dandelion roots, but curly dock and burdock come out relatively easily as well! You can order one online at http://www.dewitstore.com/tools

Recently, I heard about bionic rose gardening gloves. They look interesting. I think I might have to order a pair… By the way, what tools have you found to be essential in your rose garden?

Creating A New Bed For Roses

This time of the year, I am hungry to be outside in my garden. I look forward to the weeding, edging and mulching . It is a meditative practice for me. Of course, I like how the garden looks when I am done. But, it is too soon for these activities. Now is the time to figure out where I am going to put all those new varieties of roses that I have ordered. And as soon as it warms up some more, I can start creating new garden beds. I have used a variety of approaches and want to share what I’ve learned with you. We moved to our new property seven years ago this past September. It had been a hayfield. The soil is a gravel loam. There was a long swath alongside the driveway scraped clean by the bulldozer. I had dozens of roses in three gallon pots to plant, a house to unpack and settle in and the school year had just begun. Every day after school, I would be out there with a pick and shovel, digging holes for roses through October and November. I did not amend the soil. I dug each hole a little bigger than the pot. When they were all planted, I mulched the whole area six inches deep with bark mulch. Here's what it looked like the following spring. This is what that bed looked like several years later.

The following spring and summer, I added rose beds around the terrace and down the slope. That area had been seeded to lawn the previous fall. I rototilled the beds and worked in lots of compost. The roses I planted here were also in three gallon pots. This time I covered the area with about six inches of wood chips instead of bark mulch. The wood chips were free. This is what that area looked like a year after it was planted.

Here's what it looked like a few years after that. This view is from the other end of those beds, looking up towards the house.

The following year, I needed to add more garden beds, but didn’t have the time or energy to bring in compost and rototill. For these beds I used a method called sheet composting. I dug holes in the lawn and planted the roses. As before, the roses had well established root systems in three gallon pots. The lawn area around the roses was covered with thick layers of wet newspaper overlapped like shingles. This was covered with a layer of wet cardboard and topped off with about six inches of wood chips. The newspaper and cardboard kill the grass underneath and break down within a year or so. Here's a view of that bed a couple of years after it was planted. The women in the picture are my daughter, Sylvie, and my daughter-in-law, Jeanne. That's Jeanne's dog, Finn, watering the roses.

Every year, I add additional mulch to all of the beds. They have not been fertilized. No additional watering was done after the roses were established. Roses growing in beds created in these three ways are indistinguishable in terms of vigor and health. One would think that the beds that were rototilled and given additional compost would have shown better growth or that beds mulched with ground bark would be in better shape than those mulched with wood chips. Given decent soil conditions, it seems as if that additional work is not necessary. If you have heavy clay soil you might consider adding compost and rototilling. Adding sand will not improve the soil as well as adding compost. The climbers pictured below, lining the driveway were planted using sheet composting. I have added a bucket of compost around the base of each of them every other year or so. They look pretty good don't they?

I have made new beds every year we’ve been here. I’m thinking that this year might be the last year for increasing and expanding the rose beds, as it is taking me longer and longer to get them all weeded, edged and mulched. So that after this year, if a new variety is going to be added something else has to go. My family and friends are skeptical.