If you wish to grow healthy, vibrant rose bushes with beautiful flowers, you need to pay attention to the chemistry of your garden soil.
Successful gardening requires good soil, and it is important to make sure that your soil will meet the needs of your plants before you even plant your first rose bush.
The chemistry of the soil can change from year to year, so it's important to pay attention to it for perennial plants like roses.
The quality of the soil can be impacted by a number of factors including erosion and too much pesticides and fertilizer use.
So you need to test the soil if you suspect any problems.
Even before you plant your rose bushes you should test the soil.
You can't assume that the soil chemistry is the same everywhere in your garden, other patches will be influenced by previous plantings, chemical use and different underlying rocks.
Your local nursery should be able to provide you with some insight into soil testing.
You can probably get a soil testing kit from them, or even have a proper soil analysis done at a laboratory if possible.
What are the kinds of things you need to know about your soil? Firstly, the pH level is most important as different plants like different acidity or alkalinity levels.
It's also important to know the amounts of clay, sand and organic materials present in your soil.
If your soil is too clayey, for example, you may need to add significant amounts of humus or compost.
Only once you know the type of soil can you know what you need to add to it to make your rose bushes thrive.
Roses do best in a slightly acidic soil with a pH of between 5.
5 to 7.
0.
If your pH range is outside this range and needs to be changed, you can use a number of means to achieve this.
If the soil is very acidic, limestone can be added to make the soil more alkaline.
On the other hand, if the soil is very alkaline, you can add sulphur to make it more acidic.
Adding compost is also a useful way to balance the pH level of soil - it's always a good idea to add compost to any new flowerbed anyway.
Now that you know the quality of your soil, you can monitor it from year to year and you'll know exactly what components to add to ensure that your roses keep blooming beautifully.