March is here and it’s time to start thinking about getting your rose beds ready for the new season. Your roses will be starting to come out of hibernation because there will be more light and warmer temperatures (well hopefully anyway!). It’s time to start getting your beds cleaned up in the last two weeks in March. You will want to remove any leaves, extra soil or mulch that you added for extra winter protection.
The last week of March is also a good time to start spraying for diseases like Powdery Mildew or Black Spot. Most diseases will not over winter, but Black Spot will. A good Copper based fungicide should be used. Be sure to spray the bed and your roses to take care of any disease that might have been left on fallen leaves. Please wait until there are going to be a few consecutive warm days.
Now would be a great time to thoroughly weed your rose beds. If you get all the weeds now, you can use Preen to control the weeds for most of the season. This will make your life a lot easier.
Next month l will be talking about Spring pruning
Can’t wait to get out in my roses!
Have a rose question? Larry can be reached at larrytheroseguy@gmail.com.
