Musings on roses, lasagna gardening

Roses grow on you, sometimes a bit too much

Reflecting on how much time and effort I can put (even with volunteer help) into the traditional method of double digging the community garden, I consulted with Elwood Amey. Elwood is a gardener by profession and helped the older people's group design the garden structure some years ago. He is also a trustee of the community association and a partner in the Wellbeing Service which inspired the idea of an apothecary garden.

We had a conversation about roses and which ones to keep. They hadn't been pruned for so long that one had reverted to its wild state and it will have to come out. While not the biggest of the bunch, it will take some doing. I've already got rid of one which was fighting to survive the competition from pernicious weeds and not really in the right place, unless you want your legs scratched to pieces as you pass. Another is defying attempts to grow up the trellis on the bunker, stretching out to the light in the opposite direction.

Ideally I'd like to replace them all with Rosa Mundi, the 12th century apothecary rose said to be named after Fair Rosamund, mistress of Henry II! Unlike the floribundas and the hybrid teas, lovely though they are, it won't end up with flowers waving 8-10 feet in the air. One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother's square rose bed featuring the gorgeous 'Peace' in her garden, located at the foot of the Peak District National Park; but she did employ a gardener to keep them in good shape.

Rosa Mundi (Copyright Peter Beales Roses)

I love roses and have grown many (and lost some to disease or being in the wrong place) - here are two of them.

The highly scented Portland Rose 'Jacques Cartier' (1868)

Hybrid musk 'Cornelia' (1925)

Mulches and 'lasagna' gardening

Elwood suggested I cut down the big weeds, cover some of the areas with cardboard, followed by a deep mulch of bark chippings and plant through that. Brian kindly supplied a very large double sheet for the area that I've designated for fruit bushes and some vegetables. I've pinned it down with the bags of old compost for the moment. I'm fond of the cottage garden look and have planted a hollyhock picked up for a song at Farmstead Road Community Garden stall at the Phoenix Festival.

Intrigued by the idea of a cardboard mulch I went on a journey through the internet and discovered the wonderfully named lasagna gardening. The idea of No Dig gardening was developed in the 1950s in the USA by Ruth Stout, who lived in Poverty Hollow, Connecticut, and wrote a book Gardening Without Work; for the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent! Sounds appropriate.

Here is a presentation on lasagna gardening by Philadephia County Master Gardeners (Penn State University), and an interesting blog about it. Enjoy!