Humus: The black gold in our garden
Roses can't live without humus, its their source of life. Humus is broken down organic material that's ready to be eaten by roses (and nearly all other plants). It's also the life source of the Mycorhizza fungi, it thrives in it and needs it badly. It is essential to feed our top soil with humus, at least yearly but better is every six months. Yes Dirk but what's the use of the rest of the soil our roses are standing in? That's our substrate where our roses anker ⚓ themselves in. It can be made up of clay, lime, sand or a mixture of all these. Our roses don't feed from this substrate, they feed on humus and the nutrients that are released from the humus. Now you also know the difference between organic and chemical fertilizer. Organic fertilizer creates more humus and releases its nutrients slowly thanks to the good army in the soil like bacteria, worms, woodlice etc. Chemical fertilizer however is man made chemical stuff without the components to create humus. It's empty calories and can give your roses a boost but soon your soil is dead and filled with salts, a rest product of chemical fertilizer. It's also deadly to the Mycorhizza. Mycorhizza hates artifical fertilizer.
Lets take a walk in a forest. Go sit down on your knees and scratch the top soil. We see broken down leafs, a thick layer of composted leafs. It's brown and smells like.... A forest. It's pure nature in your hand, the circle of life.
That's the type of top soil we have to create in our garden. There are different ways to achieve that and they are quite cheap. You can make your own compost from your organic leftovers like vegetables, fruits, newspapers, straw etc.
You can buy a Vermicomposting box and throw all your leftovers in that box and the good worms will transform it into gold. We are talking about good worms, no maggots 🤮
You can mulch with fallen leafs in autumn and lay a thick layer between and around your roses. You can make your own leaf compost by gathering leafs in black plastic bin bags. Prop it as much as possible but so you can still close it. Now add a bucket of rainwater and close the bag(s). Put them in a sunny spot and open them in let's say April. If the leafs aren't yet composted you wait a bit longer but it's best when the leafs are broken down by half. So it's good when there are still pieces in it. Use it as a mulch. A thick layer of 5 cm minimum! It will feed the soil, keep it moist in warm summers. To enhance it you can mix the leaf compost or wormcompost with Vulcano rock dust (Lava meel). This contains super good essential minerals and other elements for our roses. A few handful of dust is enough for twenty liters of compost.
Cow or horse manure: Very useful. Fifty years ago we had thousands and thousands of farmers in Flanders and good rotted cow manure was available in abundance. It was black gold and filled with red manure worms. My grandparents had cows and a big pile of cow manure. After one or two years that manure (with straw) was turned into black dirt and it smelled like forest soil. Times have changed and today its not that easy anymore to get such cow manure. But we have granulated cow manure. That's that same manure but dried and heated to kill all bad pests and bad bacteria. You can buy it in garden centers. Don't be a cheapskate and give your roses a thick layer of granulated cow manure around the roots. More is better. Again you mix it with rock dust.
Ordinary compost in bags or bigbags: Very useful and can be applied like the rest, as a mulch.
Tip: Before applying compost or granulated cow manure as a mulch first water your soil until it's soaked and then you can apply it.
A good garden is a garden that gives everything back to the soil.
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