Chapter 2 - Planting And Soil Preparation

Come my spade. There are no ancient gentlemen but gardeners. Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act V)

In using the word 'planning' in the heading it is not my intention to give elaborate designs for rose gardens (or, in fact, any at all). For one reason, where designs are needed by the very few who, nowadays, are in a position to allot the whole or a large part of their gardens to the cultivation of one type of flower, this need can be met by those whose business it is to carry out such work.

My own view is that one gets a great deal more amusement by making one's own garden than by putting the work into other hands. The result is not, perhaps, anything like as good as when carried out by a professional, but it is at least one's own work. That piece of land attached to the house in which we live is our own, as long as we live there, and with that piece of land we are free to do just as we like in making a garden. That being so, let everyone design according to his ideas. Mistakes will be made, of course, as they always are. Alterations can be carried out, which I think adds much to the interest of gardening, but behind it all is the idea that some day perfection will be obtained.

Assuming that it is the intention to have roses in the garden, what is the best situation, and, if grown in beds, where should they be and what size? First of all the beds should be as far away as possible from any trees, at least far enough not to suffer from dripping from the leaves. The beds should be not less than five feet in width, six feet if it is the intention to allow the plants to grow into large bushes. Wide beds are apt to be unmanageable and necessitate stepping on to the soil in order to tend the plants. On the other hand, beds less than five feet in width are rather prone to be wet in winter and dry in summer. Avoid, at all costs, those tiny holes cut in the lawn wherein a standard rose is planted to drag out a miserable existence.

Choosing the site

In most of the smaller gardens the site selected for the rose beds will almost certainly be the lawn, and in most instances this will be the best choice. I say 'most instances', because it is quite possible for such a position to be most unsuitable for the following reason. To be successful in the growing of roses one thing is essential, there must be good drainage, and in this lies a problem. Roses with their roots in waterlogged soil during the winter cannot be expected to grow satisfactorily. In the great majority of small gardens there are usually few drainage difficulties. Where there are, there must be an outlet for the surplus water and merely to make a present of it to one's neighbor is not conducive to friendly relations. The alternative is deep digging, or if that fails, raising the beds above the level of the surrounding soil. Of course, this question of drainage will apply mainly where the soil is very heavy, with a subsoil of almost impervious clay.

Roses are said to have a fondness for clay and there is something in this assertion, always provided that water can pass through it fairly freely, but at the same time roses can be made to do well, even in the most unpromising soils, whether they are chalky, gravelly, sandy or peaty, provided the most robust varieties are grown.

'No-digging' method of preparing a bed

At first sight it should be easy for one who has worn out more spades than can be remembered, to write about the preparation of the beds. But it is not so, as we now have the 'no-digging' school with us, and their claims are such that one cannot dismiss their ideas without proper consideration. Personally, I believe that 'no-digging' could be made to give results, but whether those results would be any improvement on the methods which have been followed for centuries, and have never failed to give us our daily bread, time alone will show. Undoubtedly, mankind has not reached finality in the treatment of the soil. When one realizes what an artificial thing plant cultivation is, for it must be remembered that sowing seed is about the only natural thing we gardeners do, one should at least be patient with those who have ideas which are more natural, although seemingly revolutionary.

Having a piece of rough land I thought I would try a small bed of roses on the no-digging principle. This particular plot has been grassland for more years than our local inhabitants can remember, and is rather on the acid side, pH 5.6. The turf was stripped off, about two inches thick and taken away. The bed was then raked over and sticks were put in where the roses were to go. The roses, all bushes, were then placed in position, tied to the stick and roots spread out. I disregarded the fact of the junction of the stock and scion being high or low. I then covered the roots to a depth of about three inches with soil mixed with a certain amount of compost. It is a matter of opinion whether there is any improvement in growth over the trees planted in the orthodox way. I think that the saving of labor, by not digging, is offset by the labor involved in wheeling barrow loads of soil to cover the roots of the plants. I must say, however, that so far the plants are making good growth, and I was interested to see at the end of the season that the roses were no different from those planted in the orthodox manner.

It seems to me that the extravagant claims made by those gardeners who are following this practice are apt to make many fight shy of the whole idea. One claim is that roses so grown are quite free from all the usual pests and diseases to which roses are prone. So they may be, but on the other hand instances could be found to prove that the orthodox methods provide an equal freedom.

Organic and inorganic manures

There is, too, the bitter controversy between those who eschew anything in the nature of inorganic manures, and those who use them. Without a doubt, the careless and ignorant use of chemical fertilizers is responsible to a great extent for death and disease in plants, but when used with discretion and care by one who knows what these manures are intended to do, they can, I believe, be a power for good. It is stated that the worm population in the soil is reduced to vanishing point by the use of artificials. All I can say is that before the introduction of the hormone weed killers, I used sulphate of ammonia for ridding my grass of daisies, etc., and yet the worm casts in the autumn and winter have always been a nuisance. In my experience the absence of worms in soil which is under cultivation is due purely to poverty in decayed matter, and I am sure that if humus-forming material is dug into the soil, the judicious use of a balanced fertilizer can do nothing but good.

It must not be supposed that organic manures are by any means foolproof. For instance, it has often been stated in the past, and even now by some authorities who should know better, that when bastard trenching clay soil, long, strawy, farmyard manure should be dug into the subsoil, no doubt with the erroneous idea that the straw will break up the clay. My own experience is that to mix anything of such a nature when digging a tenacious clay is virtually impossible.

Again, why waste very expensive material by putting it in a position where it can never become plant food? The correct place to put any plant food is as near the surface of the soil as possible. By doing so one is imitating nature where most plant food is carried down to the roots from above. The common method of applying manure to soil is a matter of convenience as much as anything. It is so easy to open a trench, spread manure along its length and then dig a spit of soil on top of it. The ultimate result is a thin layer of manure about ten inches below the surface of the soil. Such a method works out quite well when applied to annual crops, for when the soil is dug again the manure gets more or less incorporated as it should have been from the beginning.

All growers of pot plants are aware of the necessity for thoroughly mixing the potting compost by turning it several times, and would not dream for a moment of putting the manure at the bottom of the pot and then using the ordinary loam for the plant to grow in. Yet many of them would think it quite right and proper to put a lot of manure underneath newly-planted roses in the manner I have described. Here there is no question of the manure being incorporated by further digging, and so it remains inert and useless. How much better it would have been if placed on the top of the soil in the autumn, and subjected to the natural elements to enrich the soil instead of being out of reach of the beneficial bacteria, and its fertilizing matter being washed down deeper into the subsoil.

Preparation of the rose bed

Let us assume that the rose bed is to be made on a part of the lawn. We will also assume that it is to be a rectangular one of an indefinite length but with a width of five feet, which, as I mentioned previously, is the most convenient. The advice so often given is to open a trench at one end of the bed, taking the soil to the other end. I find that the way to make it easier to dig the subsoil is to open a trench the whole length of the bed, passing the soil over on the opposite side. This does entail a certain amount of extra labour, but it will be found that when it comes to breaking up the subsoil the work can be done more expeditiously because one does not have to change over from spade to fork and hop in and out of a narrow trench.

I do not think that the turf should be dug in. It is far better to strip it off first and stack it in a heap to rot and to be applied later as a top dressing. It must be remembered that the soil underneath turf that has been mown for several years is likely to be very poor, for as a rule the lawn does not receive much organic manure, and although the texture of the soil will be good, something will have to be done to replace the plant food which has been taken out by repeated mowings.

As a rule I do not advise manuring roses when planting. To use a moderate amount of rotted dung would be extremely good, but to use fresh or partially-rotted stuff, recently removed from the stable, or yard, is to court certain failure. I do not think it is necessary to dwell on the actual digging except to say that the trench opened should be about fifteen inches wide, and a full spit deep. Cleaning out the crumbs is worth while before forking up the subsoil. The idea of breaking up the subsoil is purely to assist the free passage of water through the top soil, and admit air to sweeten the whole. When the forking of the subsoil has been completed, the next fifteen inches of top soil will be dug on to it, exposing another trench to be treated in the same manner. When the last trench has been dug, the soil taken from the first trench is shoveled in and the bed raked over. After being allowed to settle for a few days it will be ready for planting.

It often happens that although the soil in the newly-dug bed is in perfect condition for planting, that is, fairly moist and crumbly, some time may elapse before the plants arrive from the nursery. During that time, bad weather may have set in and, when planting is attempted, instead of the soil being in good condition, making planting a pleasurable task, it is found to be wet and sticky and extremely unpleasant to work. This kind of thing is apt to happen time and again, for the sending out of roses from the nurseries in November always seems to coincide with very heavy rain. Where possible it is a good thing, if the area to be planted is not too great, to cover the bed with a tarpaulin, corrugated-iron sheets, or anything that might suggest itself for the purpose. There is no doubt whatever that roses planted when the soil is in good heart do very much better than when planting has been carried out under unfavorable conditions. These remarks apply mainly to fairly heavy soils. Lighter soils that can be planted at any time, irrespective of wet weather conditions, are not likely to give such desirable results as those that are heavier.

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