Cheat Sheet: Growing Roses "Organically" (and many other plants, really).
A Quick Companion to Our Indepth Rose Guides 1 and 2 ( and how many of these techniques can benefit other plants in your garden).
Why this document?
You may be asking why this document when we have the Rose Guides? Well, for the new rose grower or new to growing roses organically, it can be overwhelming about where to start and how to even get your head around the basics so this is a higher level look at what you need to think about to get started with to preface all of the detail you will find referenced here, with links, to then be able to more easily refer to in Rose Guide 1 and Rose Guide 2. Even for those of you who have read the two Rose Guides indepth might find some new information here.
Why Grow Roses Organically?
It might make you wonder why this, the “organically” bit, is a big deal to me and many other gardeners and well, that is because if you grow roses and have been growing roses as long as I have or worked in the industry in nurseries like I did for many moons while getting my hort quals and after, selling roses and advising folks on growing them, you will know that many people assume that growing healthy roses, in particular “organically”, is very difficult, or even impossible. I am going to tell you this is completely untrue and I grow, and have grown, hundreds and hundreds of them without the use of fungicides and pesticides for years.
So, this is our Cheat Sheet for Growing Roses Organically to help you start to get your head around the idea if you’ve never tried it before with your own roses but are ready to give it a go or you’ve simply never grown a rose but would like to without the use of nasties sold to manage the plethora of disesases and pests that like to mess with them. Understanding how to garden organically teaches you that these pest and disease issues are generally a result of other issues which don’t even begin with the plant itself but rather the soil, techniques used and the enviroment around them. You’ll also find that many of the methods we use to grow roses can be applied to many plants across your garden.
So, given roses, if unhealthy, are susceptible to numerous pest and disease issues, growing them organically is both the kinder way to grow them but also the answer to having healthier roses in the first place. Organic gardening nurtures the environment you’re gardening in, from the tiny microscopic organisms that live in your soil and keep it healthy to the plants themselves that benefit from that health and all the insect and animal life that use your garden for food and shelter. Healthy soil full of microbial life, as well as healthy populations of beneficial insects and birds and other critters, keeps in check the pests and diseases that hinder the healthy growth of your roses.
This guide is meant to give you an overview, a jumping off point if you will but we recommend you use our detailed rose growing guides The Rose Guide Part 1 and The Rose Guide Part 2 for more information once you’ve got your head around this document. Or if this makes you think beyond your roses you can simply visit the Garden Guides section of our Substack for what we do across numerous garden areas here at Moorfield, and where we cut our teeth on these techniques at Little Oak.
CONTENTS
Key Steps to Growing Roses Organically:
Picking the Right Rose
Planting & Maintaining at the Right Times
Ensuring Soil Health
Positioning & Planting Correctly
Good Spacing
Feeding what’s needed, when?
Watering correctly to avoid disease
Pruning hygenically & correctly
Companion Planting to manage pests
Roses We Grow
Suppliers We Buy Roses From
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