Pruning Rose Bushes
 

I have four rose bushes,( not climbers) which have finally finished flowering. Can I prune them now or due to the sudden harsh weather should I wait until spring? I would like to prune now if possible as they will look a lot tidier Laughing
Thanks

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

coykiesaol writes:

I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large garden,
unbelievable amount of leaves!!) Was wondering if having dumped a load
of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse manure when they are
rotted down whether this will be beneficial or detrimental to the health
(growth) of veggies next year??

Yes.

Also, does anyone have a leaf blower and can they recommend them or not.
Especially when the leaves are wet on grass??

Leaf blowers come in 3 main categories:

Electric - Near useless, only for small amounts of leaves. Won't move
wet leaves.

Backpack 2 cycle gas - This is what I have. Good for up to an acre.
Wet doesn't matter.

Walk behind gas - What pros use, as big as a lawnmower clears large
amounts of leaves in a hurry. You may still need a backpack blower
for certain areas.

So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas powered
blower.

I suppose it depends on where you are and how bad the remaining winter will be. If you prune now and then there's a hard frost, you may get die-back on some branches. Personally I would wait until February or so. If they're really annoying you, or if there's danger of wind-rock or something like that, then you could always cut back a few branches now - just removing part of them - and then wait until later to do the proper pruning

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

wrote:
coykiesaol writes:

I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large garden,
unbelievable amount of leaves!!)

"very large garden" is meaningless... to some an 1/8 acre is very
large, to others a full acre is very large, to some 20 acres is small.

Was wondering if having dumped a load
of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse manure when they are
rotted down whether this will be beneficial or detrimental to the health
(growth) of veggies next year??

Yes.

So long as the leaves are well composted, otherwise mixing in
uncomposted leaves will harbor/encourage insects/disease.

Also, does anyone have a leaf blower and can they recommend them or not.
Especially when the leaves are wet on grass??

Leaf blowers come in 3 main categories:

Electric - Near useless, only for small amounts of leaves. Won't move
wet leaves.

Backpack 2 cycle gas - This is what I have. Good for up to an acre.
Wet doesn't matter.

Walk behind gas - What pros use, as big as a lawnmower clears large
amounts of leaves in a hurry. You may still need a backpack blower
for certain areas.

For large areas the pros use a lawn vac/mulcher (not a blower), often
an attachment for garden tractors/riding mowers... but there are also
walk behind/push types. It's actually silly to blow large expanses of
leaves, much smarter to suck them up and grind them all in one fell
swoop... otherwise one will be blowing the same leaves backwards and
forwards all day.

So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas powered
blower.

The backpack types are overkill for the homeowner, those are used by
professional landscapers who service several properties eachy day who
will be blowing leaves/grass clippings all day every day... homeowners
blow leaves once/twice a year, get the smallest unit that will do the
job.

There are hand held blowers one can carry and/or support with a
shoulder strap... these are very portable and work exceptionally well
for homeowner tasks... I have this one, very powerful, will blow wet
leaves easily, I've never encounterd a situation that required more
than half throttle:
http://www.echo-usa.com/product.asp?...ry=POWERBLOWER

Whenever using a leaf blower it's very important for the operator and
everyone nearby to wear a mask/respirator.

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 writes:

wrote:
coykiesaol writes:

I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large garden,
unbelievable amount of leaves!!)

"very large garden" is meaningless... to some an 1/8 acre is very
large, to others a full acre is very large, to some 20 acres is small.

Was wondering if having dumped a load
of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse manure when they are
rotted down whether this will be beneficial or detrimental to the health
(growth) of veggies next year??

Yes.

So long as the leaves are well composted, otherwise mixing in
uncomposted leaves will harbor/encourage insects/disease.

Also, does anyone have a leaf blower and can they recommend them or not.
Especially when the leaves are wet on grass??

Leaf blowers come in 3 main categories:

Electric - Near useless, only for small amounts of leaves. Won't move
wet leaves.

Backpack 2 cycle gas - This is what I have. Good for up to an acre.
Wet doesn't matter.

Walk behind gas - What pros use, as big as a lawnmower clears large
amounts of leaves in a hurry. You may still need a backpack blower
for certain areas.

For large areas the pros use a lawn vac/mulcher (not a blower), often

Hmm, I just read somewhere that "large areas" is meaningless.

an attachment for garden tractors/riding mowers... but there are also
walk behind/push types. It's actually silly to blow large expanses of
leaves, much smarter to suck them up and grind them all in one fell
swoop... otherwise one will be blowing the same leaves backwards and
forwards all day.

About 80 percent of my neighbors have lawn services to deal with the
leaves. None of them use tractors for the leaves. They have tractors,
they just don't use them for leaves.

So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas powered
blower.

The backpack types are overkill for the homeowner, those are used by
professional landscapers who service several properties eachy day who
will be blowing leaves/grass clippings all day every day... homeowners
blow leaves once/twice a year, get the smallest unit that will do the
job.

I'm a home owner.
I blow leaves 5 or 6 weekends a year. Usually about 8 hours each
weekend. I'm on just under an acre. I'm surrounded by really big tulip
poplars.

There are hand held blowers one can carry and/or support with a
shoulder strap... these are very portable and work exceptionally well
for homeowner tasks... I have this one, very powerful, will blow wet
leaves easily, I've never encounterd a situation that required more
than half throttle:
http://www.echo-usa.com/product.asp?...ry=POWERBLOWER

Half the max air speed of my unit, 2/3 the price.
This is somewhere between electric and backpack.
I can see how this would be okay for some home owners.

Whenever using a leaf blower it's very important for the operator and
everyone nearby to wear a mask/respirator.

I never wear a mask, I always wear ear protection.

As has been said, it depends on what the remainder of the winter has instore, for as well as the previously mentioned die-back, pruning now could induce the production of new shoots which could be damaged by further periods of very cold weather. Already here in Cornwall, due to the very mild conditions we have had since the new year, things are beginning to 'creak' into action (roses, Hydrangeas, camellias etc) but the last few very cold nights will slow that down again. We still have a long way to go with this winter so, I agree hang on until end of Feb or even mid-March.
Lannerman

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

On Jan 19, 7:17*am, wrote:
coykiesaol writes:
I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large garden,
unbelievable amount of leaves!!) Was wondering if having dumped a load
of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse manure when they are
rotted down whether this will be beneficial or detrimental to the health
(growth) of veggies next year??

Yes.

Also, does anyone have a leaf blower and can they recommend them or not..
Especially when the leaves are wet on grass??

Leaf blowers come in 3 main categories:

Electric - Near useless, only for small amounts of leaves. *Won't move
wet leaves.

Backpack 2 cycle gas - This is what I have. *Good for up to an acre.
Wet doesn't matter.

Walk behind gas - What pros use, as big as a lawnmower clears large
amounts of leaves in a hurry. *You may still need a backpack blower
for certain areas.

So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas powered
blower.

Some communities, like mine, have outlawed gas powered blowers. Even
if the gardener gets caught, homeowner pays ticket.

HB

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

Higgs Boson wrote:
On Jan 19, 7:17 am, wrote:
coykiesaol writes:
I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large
garden, unbelievable amount of leaves!!) Was wondering if having
dumped a load of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse
manure when they are rotted down whether this will be beneficial or
detrimental to the health (growth) of veggies next year??

Yes.

Also, does anyone have a leaf blower and can they recommend them or
not. Especially when the leaves are wet on grass??

Leaf blowers come in 3 main categories:

Electric - Near useless, only for small amounts of leaves. Won't move
wet leaves.

Backpack 2 cycle gas - This is what I have. Good for up to an acre.
Wet doesn't matter.

Walk behind gas - What pros use, as big as a lawnmower clears large
amounts of leaves in a hurry. You may still need a backpack blower
for certain areas.

So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas
powered blower.

Some communities, like mine, have outlawed gas powered blowers. Even
if the gardener gets caught, homeowner pays ticket.


Just out of morbid curiosity, why?

D

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Higgs Boson wrote:
On Jan 19, 7:17 am, wrote:
coykiesaol writes:
I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large
garden, unbelievable amount of leaves!!) Was wondering if having
dumped a load of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse
manure when they are rotted down whether this will be beneficial or
detrimental to the health (growth) of veggies next year??

Yes.

Also, does anyone have a leaf blower and can they recommend them or
not. Especially when the leaves are wet on grass??

Leaf blowers come in 3 main categories:

Electric - Near useless, only for small amounts of leaves. Won't move
wet leaves.

Backpack 2 cycle gas - This is what I have. Good for up to an acre.
Wet doesn't matter.

Walk behind gas - What pros use, as big as a lawnmower clears large
amounts of leaves in a hurry. You may still need a backpack blower
for certain areas.

So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas
powered blower.

Some communities, like mine, have outlawed gas powered blowers. Even
if the gardener gets caught, homeowner pays ticket.


Just out of morbid curiosity, why?

D

NOISE!

Electric blowers (still irritating) are sufficient for most home owners,
and much cheaper.

I see the flooding has moved south. Hope you and yours are high and dry.
--
- Billy
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara
http://peace.mennolink.org/articles/...acegroups.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...130964689.html
20111812130964689.html

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

Billy wrote:
So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas
powered blower.

Some communities, like mine, have outlawed gas powered blowers.
Even if the gardener gets caught, homeowner pays ticket.


Just out of morbid curiosity, why?

D

NOISE!

Electric blowers (still irritating) are sufficient for most home
owners, and much cheaper.


An interesting solution to the problem. In Sydney for example there are no
laws about what gear you can use just limits on the noise you can make (for
whatever reason) at certain times of day. So you could have a brass band
practice in your garage and as long as you didn't play outside hours it
would be OK. Where I am any such laws may be in force but in practice they
are irrelevant, you agree with your neighbour what is reasonable and nobody
calls the police.

I see the flooding has moved south. Hope you and yours are high and
dry.

Our area has escaped extremes of rainfall but La Nina has provided weeks on
end of clouds, light showers and humidity. My fruit won't ripen properly so
I watch the fungus grow.

David

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

On Jan 19, 3:51*pm, pascale
wrote:
Leaves cannot harm your vegetables in any way though it is very
important about what kind of leaves you are talking about. Walnut, for
example is toxic both to the soil and plants. I have a mature walnut
tree nearby my garden and I'm seriously considering about relocating the
garden because nothings seems to grow anymore near the walnut tree.

--
pascale

I think you got the wrong thread )

Chris

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

In article
,
Chris wrote:

On Jan 19, 3:51*pm, pascale
wrote:
Leaves cannot harm your vegetables in any way though it is very
important about what kind of leaves you are talking about. Walnut, for
example is toxic both to the soil and plants. I have a mature walnut
tree nearby my garden and I'm seriously considering about relocating the
garden because nothings seems to grow anymore near the walnut tree.

--
pascale

I think you got the wrong thread )

Chris

Where is the dissonance?

The original subject was "Leaves, beneficial or not?", and the first
question was:
"I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large garden,
unbelievable amount of leaves!!) Was wondering if having dumped a load
of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse manure when they are
rotted down whether this will be beneficial or detrimental to the health
(growth) of veggies next year??"

Did I miss something?
--
- Billy
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara
http://peace.mennolink.org/articles/...acegroups.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...130964689.html
20111812130964689.html

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

Billy wrote:
In article
,
Chris wrote:

On Jan 19, 3:51 pm, pascale
wrote:
Leaves cannot harm your vegetables in any way though it is very
important about what kind of leaves you are talking about. Walnut,
for example is toxic both to the soil and plants. I have a mature
walnut tree nearby my garden and I'm seriously considering about
relocating the garden because nothings seems to grow anymore near
the walnut tree.

--
pascale

I think you got the wrong thread )

Chris

Where is the dissonance?

The original subject was "Leaves, beneficial or not?", and the first
question was:
"I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large
garden, unbelievable amount of leaves!!) Was wondering if having
dumped a load of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse
manure when they are rotted down whether this will be beneficial or
detrimental to the health (growth) of veggies next year??"

Did I miss something?

On my reader this is coming up attached to the thread on grow lamps.

David

Leaves, beneficial or not?
 

In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Billy wrote:
In article
,
Chris wrote:

On Jan 19, 3:51 pm, pascale
wrote:
Leaves cannot harm your vegetables in any way though it is very
important about what kind of leaves you are talking about. Walnut,
for example is toxic both to the soil and plants. I have a mature
walnut tree nearby my garden and I'm seriously considering about
relocating the garden because nothings seems to grow anymore near
the walnut tree.

--
pascale

I think you got the wrong thread )

Chris

Where is the dissonance?

The original subject was "Leaves, beneficial or not?", and the first
question was:
"I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large
garden, unbelievable amount of leaves!!) Was wondering if having
dumped a load of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse
manure when they are rotted down whether this will be beneficial or
detrimental to the health (growth) of veggies next year??"

Did I miss something?

On my reader this is coming up attached to the thread on grow lamps.

David

Oh, goody, we can blame Bill Gates, et al. After all the grief that
people have gotten from Outlook Express, I'm amazed that it is still in
use.
--
- Billy
³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.²
-Archbishop Helder Camara
http://peace.mennolink.org/articles/...acegroups.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...130964689.html
20111812130964689.html

Pruning Rose Bushes
 

Normally, I'd wait until just before the time the leaf bud appear
(late-Feb in NC), but with the weather we've had this year - I did at
New Years when the forecasters threatened ice.


On Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:11:41 +0000, northwards
wrote:


coykiesaol;910413 Wrote:
I have four rose bushes,( not climbers) which have finally finished
flowering. Can I prune them now or due to the sudden harsh weather
should I wait until spring? I would like to prune now if possible as
they will look a lot tidier Laughing
Thanks

I suppose it depends on where you are and how bad the remaining winter
will be. If you prune now and then there's a hard frost, you may get
die-back on some branches. Personally I would wait until February or so.
If they're really annoying you, or if there's danger of wind-rock or
something like that, then you could always cut back a few branches now -
just removing part of them - and then wait until later to do the proper
pruning