In article , Aunty Kreist Aunty_Kreist@
satanickittens.net writes

"Shez" wrote in message
news
In article , Aunty Kreist Aunty_Kreist@
satanickittens.net writes

"Shez" wrote in message
...
In article , Aunty Kreist
Aunty_Kreist@
satanickittens.net writes

"Shez" wrote in message
...
In article , Shez
writes
In article , Aunty Kreist
Aunty_Kreist@
satanickittens.net writes
Hey Shez-
Have a quick question.....

The #$%$@* nursey I order from has just shipped my climbing roses.
They
arrived today.

What the heck? They are supposed to ship at the planting times of
the
zones
you live in....Dangit!

There's 6 inches of snow currently on the ground.
Will the roses be OK? They are bare root, and in very good shape.
Stems
are
nice and green, and the roots are very moist ( wrapped in moss).

Will they be OK if I store them for about a month? What should I
do-
keep
roots moist with the moss and store in a cool, dark place?

Don't put the moss in water simply put a bowl of water in the place
your
storing them in so the that moss will keep damp from the water
vapour
in
the room. Cool but not freezing, and of course dark..
You got it. Keep an eye on them, if they start to sprout, which is
possible now they are in moss and have been watered then pop them
into
pots on a well lit windowsill or near a glass door. It doesn't need
to
be a warm place.. In fact its better if its cool it will slow down
the
growth and make planting easier if they are not to far advanced.

Don't worry roses will keep well just as bare roots with a bit of
newspaper around them for weeks. The are pretty hardy.

Once the ground is no longer frozen, it doesn't matter if its cold
or
wet, as long as the ground isn't soggy, dig a hole big enough to
take
the root system... a bit of compost with well rotted horse manure
helps,
and a bit of bone meal. Put them into the hole, then the rose
roots,
so
that the join at the root and the stem where the modern rose has
been
grafted on are above the earth, and doesn't get to wet. Shovel your
soil
back in and press it down hard with your boots, don't be to gentle,
firm
the roots in and then water it well.. After that go away and ignore
it... the more you ignore it the better it will do.



Oh I forgot to say roses don't like soggy roots so if you have a
clay
soil break it up well put in sand and gravel to provide good runoff,
before you put the compost and roots in.

We do have soil that has heavy orange colored clay. I usually get a
bunch
of
topsoil every year, and had wanted to dig out a hole 2x what's needed
for
the roses, fill with the topsoil, then put the roses in. I saw at Home
Depot
that they also sell soil especially for roses, I might try that out
and
see
how it works.

That would be a very expensive way of planting roses, some well rotted
horse manure mixed with compost, and a little bone will make any rose
happy... They love horse manure.
If you have a stable nearby go and ask if you can buy some they
normally
sell huge bags for pennies they are really glad to get rid of it.


Hee hee,,,,my good friend is a horse caretaker for a stable, I'll ask him
to
bag me up some manure.

Well you fell on your feet, send some of it my way
Tuck it into a nice sheltered part of the garden with the rest of your
compost materials and let it steam away happily for a few weeks, if its
frosty and cold it will help break it down..keep turning it, and
persuade the man in your life to urinate over the compost heap.. That
will give a kick start to the process... By the time you put those roses
in the ground they will be sitting on the equivalent of the earths crown
jewels.. The best compost you can find.

You couldn't buy anything from any shop that was half as good..

Oy, but I can just imagine the smell!
Ewwww....and I have to touch it? :P


Once the compost is composted it doesn't smell bad at all, though the
horse manure carries a bit of a whiff. You can use rubber gloves or
gardening gloves if you don't like touching it, but if you think about
it, every bit of your garden started out as compost, and I bet over the
centuries enough people have urinated on it to fill a small pond..


--
Shez
Shez's Garden at http://www.oldcity.f2s.com/shez/