PREPARING ROSEBEDS FOR LATE PLANTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 190, 12 August 1922, Page 20

PREPARING ROSEBEDS FOR LATE PLANTING.

Many a garden lover finds that the autumn months are all too short for him to be able to carry out his designs, and possibly he has been obliged to leave thaf Rose bed he particularly wished to form. Although autumn planting is the beet there is no need to give up hope, as sood results can be obtained if planting is delayed until August. It is more necessary to prepare the beds properly, and the planting shou'.d be carefully" done. A great deal of failure with Roses, especially those planted late in the season, is due to I the fact that the soil is net sufficiently deep. The ground should be broken up two feet deep, and plenty of rotten manure or vegetable matter -worked ,in. The positions in the bed for the plants should be marked with sticks so as to avoid any necessity of having to alter the plants when once they are in. The roots of each bush should be trimmed, cuttine away any broken or btuised portions and any lonjr straggling roots cut back. It is a good plan to 'dip the roots into a thick puddle of clay and •water before planting. Do not plant too 'deeply. The point of union t>3tween the stock and scion should be just under the ground. Mate the soil ac fine as possible immediately on the roots, and tread the soil firm unless the soil is very wet, in which ease only a • light treading should be given; the final [treading being postponed until the soil i 3 drier. It is advisable to give a handful of bonedust to each plant just beneath the surface. At the end of August or the beginning of September the plants should be pruned severely, only two or three eyes being left on the stouter shoots and the weaker one removed entirely. If planting is not done till the end of August pruning should be done at tie time of planting. During the coming summer should the weather be dry a. good watering should be given occasionally. The surface of beds should also be kept loose with the hoe to prevent unnecessary evaporation of moisture.