Josh

I'm happy to hear the Lady Bug Brigade finally arrived! I think predator bugs have spent too much time in American cinemas. Like all action film protagonists, they appear just in the nick of time, after we've bitten our nails to the quick and torn out our hair.

New rose bed:
The lasagna method is effective but, as you mentioned, slow. If you have less than a month, you're probably looking at rototilling. If the grass is truly dead, it can be rototilled under. If it's only mostly dead, it will rise like some ghoulish shadow of its former self to occupy odd and inconvenient places. Bermuda and St. Augustine are both tenacious in their own ways. (You gotta be tough to cover a swathe of black clay and caliche during those infernally hot and relentlessly long Texas summers.) To remove lawn, you can saturate the bed space and scrape the grass up with a flat shovel. Dig into the soil about 3 inches, use your foot to push the shovel along under the roots--straight across. Do a bit at a time until you find your skimming rythm. Toss the strips of grass/roots/clinging native soil into a compost bin. Then either rototill or hand till your amendments into your new bed space. Till to turn and loosen the native soil. Add a layer (1/2) of amendments and till it in. Repeat with second half of amendments. To ensure your bed is at the desired level relative to its surroundings, walk all over it or use a tamper, water, race to the nursery five minutes to closing time for several more bags of compost and soil since you used all your existing amendments before tamping and stomping. Then before planting, prep each hole as usual for good measure.

Happy planting!

Carol

Josh, if you know where exactly roses will be planted, you can still do a "lasagna method." First, put down pots where you want them to go, then remove the grass under those spots (plus a few inches out). Lay down several sheets of newspaper over the pot-spots, and use cardboard elsewhere. Poke sticks through the newspaper spots to mark them (long enough that you'll see them above the mulch). Then cover the area with at least 2" of mulch (more would be better). At planting time, scrape away the mulch and dig through the newspaper to put the roses in. If at all possible, wait for Autumn to plant the companions. By then, the grass under the cardboard will surely be dead, and the cardboard itself will be easier to dig.

:-)

~Christopher

Christopher, you are a clever one! How's Indigo, by the by? I'm looking forward to photos of your garden when things warm up a bit in NJ! Carol

Thanks! The 'Indigo' I kept for myself was one thick stem, and it sprouted one thinner stem off the side at the top. My roses are all just beginning to leaf out, and so is this one. It had no dieback this Winter (which I can't say for a few others).

As I started looking around the yard, I realized that "Sissinghurst Castle" might be dead. It was growing very slowly in its pot, and what little top growth it had snapped off over Winter. I don't see anything sprouting, and gently digging around I'm not finding any promising signs. I think I'll be digging it out and moving 'Indigo' there, being as I keep hearing it spreads like a Gallica, anyway. Where I have 'Indigo' now is somewhat contained, but I'd rather not have to deal with suckering in that spot. So it will go live between 'Rosa moschata' and 'Tricolore de Flandre' in the isolated "Gallica bed" bordered by pavement.

I won't be taking pictures for a bit -- things aren't exactly pretty now. I just started digging out the roses I overwintered in a cinder block "box" filled with mulch, and sitting around that I have bags of various ingredients for a potting mix for them in their new and larger containers. I repotted four of the HTs ('Chateau de Clos Vougeot', 'Night' aka 'Lady Sackville', 'Nigrette' and 'Nocturne'), and the rooted cuttings of 'R. fedtschenkoana' and its offspring 'DLFED 3'. I still have a few more to go, then I have to dismantle the "box", figure out where to put the cinder blocks, and clean up the rest of the mulch that doesn't get used for my potting mix.

Then there's the last of the branches from last year which are in a haphazard pile on the side of the garage -- they need to be pulled out and trimmed up for some use I haven't discovered yet. Then I can start sweeping up the pavement, figure out where to move the huge riding lawnmower my landlord dropped off last Autumn so it's as "out of the way" as possible, and figure out where to put the roses in their planters. And beginning sometime next week or the following, about 160 perennials and clematis will start arriving and need to be planted. When they go in the ground, I'll start taking pictures again -- making sure to keep the camera away from any areas not cleaned up yet.

:-)

~Christopher

Wow, Christopher! You are a one man landscaping team. 160 perennials?! I'm glad Indigo is well but am sorry to hear about the loss of Sissinghurst. The spot you've chosen for Indigo sounds perfect, both from a practical perspective and an aesthetic one. My DLFED 3 is happily emerging from winter's rest. I thought of you as I transplanted violets and added more Queen Charlottes from Bluestone. I almost ordered Chateau de CV and Nigrette last year. Really stunning roses! Carol

Josh, if you have Bermuda grass, it will resurrect itself in your friend`s flower bed when the weather warms up. It's worth the trouble to clear the bed of grass in the traditional way. What a great friend you are. And all of the best with your gardening plans.