[Elaine G]

My daughter has ordered an unspecified  number of roses and invited me to help plant them on Feb 13th.
No idea where they are coming from. Kids, hey!
The garden is tiny.
She says the soil is not too bad - note she is NOT a gardener! She is in Southwark which I thought was clay. I cannot go down to look, she is going on holiday in a couple of days.
She says they come with fertiliser.
I know very little about roses and have never grown them.
Can anyone tell me if I should be buying compost of some sort to plant them in, or will they be OK with just the fertiliser in the planting hole.
Any other useful advice gratefully received.

Many thanks
Elaine

[bendipa]

I presume these will be bare root roses your daughter has ordered. This should give you some idea.

https://www.classicroses.co.uk/blog/category/rose-care/planting-roses/

Firstly the planting site needs to be in full sun. Roses don't grow well in shade. Each hole dug needs to be at least 2 feet from another.

 I should add that before planting you need to soak the roses (just the roots) in a bucket of water for at least 2 hours first. The soil you are planting in will probably be heavy clay. In that case you need to mix thoroughly organic material into the dug out soil (about a 50/50 mix). You can use compost, well-rotted horse manure or peat for this purpose. After you dig each hole, fan out the roots, and make sure each hole is deep enough so that the top of the rose graft sits level with the replaced soil which should be firmed with your hands (not with your  feet) onto the roots before watering in.

Even though you have been given fertiliser this isn't necessary for the first year as the clay will provide enough nutrients while the rose is small. However if the given fertiliser is bone meal then you can use this to add to the soil mixture as it helps to establish the root system. After planting water each rose with at least half a watering can....Good luck.

[Elaine G]

Thank you very much bendipa for your comprehensive reply. It is much appreciated. Perhaps it's not so scary after all! Looks like I need to take some manure or compost and a watering can, as she will not have one of those. Then fingers crossed for the weather.
She said something about 2ft apart, but then said I might have to take some home so I suspect she has ordered too many!
Thanks again for your help.

Elaine

[bendipa]

You're welcome.

As you live in Herts there is a very good place which specialises in selling composts, manures etc called Thompsons of Crews Hill Ltd. I use them myself and can recommend their fine horse manure for mixing into clay which they sell pretty cheaply and comes in 50L bags. Their 'Mulch or Mix' is also very suitable, but is a little more expensive.

[Elaine G]

Ooh thank you bendipa that place looks very interesting. I haven't been to Crews Hill for many years, so I can feel an outing coming on. As you say the mulch and mix looks very suitable, and I will need some manure for the plot as well. And it's pay day soon 


Thanks again

Elaine