What a lovely rose with such healthy foliage. The change obviously agreed with it.

andrea

At the risk of sounding completely ignorant -- what IS a "hugel" approach to growing roses??? IMWTK.

Jeri

Jeri -- I haven't heard about the Hugel method either. Here is a link that might be helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: the Hugel method

THX Farmerduck. :-)

Jeri

I wonder if that's why my bands are doing so well. I never heard of this approach before, but my potting mix was equal parts peat moss, dehydrated cow manure ("Bovung" at Home Depot), and shredded hardwood mulch, all mixed together in a wheelbarrow. I layered Jobe's Organic Knockout Rose Food into the pots as I filled them, and this fertilizer contains active "bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi plus a unique species of Archaea" which I'm guessing helped activate the composting process. And everything got a soaking with diluted fish/seaweed emulsion. The mulch must be working much like the buried "woody debris" and the manure, rose food and fish/seaweed emulsion must be working like the high-nitrogen "green material" added to compensate for all the high-carbon "brown material" of the mulch. I'll have to look into this "hugelkultur" more....

:-)

~Christopher