Most gardeners today are learning everything they can about organic paths to plant care, and back-to-natural rose gardening is experiencing resurgence among rose growers. Since ancient times people all over the world have been cultivating roses, and until the past century it had always been done organically. Since man-made pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers were introduced in the 20th century, gardeners have turned their backs on natural methods of protecting and nourishing plants. Thankfully for roses and rose growers everywhere, that trend seems to be changing as a large number of growers rediscover organic plant and garden care methods, and that goes for beginning gardeners as well.
Creating and maintaining a garden organically will actually benefit not only your roses, but the flora and fauna around them as well. Roses are particular about their needs and preferences, and respond to natural cultivation procedures by living longer and flourishing. The added bonus is protecting your family, your pets and area wildlife from the harmful chemicals of man-made pesticides and fertilizers. Earth has managed to maintain its organic balance without the aid of man-made chemicals for millions of years. This natural balance gets thrown for a loop when humans decide that we can outdo nature; the natural system of animal and plant life loses its mojo, and in time becomes dependent on man-made chemicals to survive, since their inherent skills have been eradicated.
Through their roots, plants absorb the water and nutrients necessary to survive, while their leaves stay busy working with sunlight to produce energy. Natural organisms in the soil serve provide pest control, pH, and nutrients in a cycle too perfect to replicate artificially. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers snuff out the soil’s natural organisms, interfering with the productive efforts that occur between the earth and your roses. Chemicals kill off favorable organisms that protect the roots of your plants, and invasives like fungi take over, infecting them and eventually killing them. By simply learning all you can about organic gardening and foregoing chemicals, you can better nourish the soil and enrich your roses.
If you’re a beginner and hoping to give your rose garden a good organic start, your soil might need a boost with some natural compost. Work it into the soil where you intend to grow your roses, or add it on top of the soil, in place of mulch. Starting up a compost pile is easy, anyone can do it. Collect grass clippings, animal waste, kitchen scraps including fruit peels, fish heads, and toss it together, either in a container or in a pile and letting the natural decomposition take place. Stirred regularly to keep it consistent, compost is the most natural way to keep your roses healthy.
After you have established a system of organic gardening, eliminate the man-made chemicals entirely. Natural pest control methods invented by nature work most effectively; don’t forget that the ladybugs and wasps in your rose garden are there eating the pests that would harm your plants. Frogs, snakes, and birds all stand guard for pest control without incorporating a single damaging chemical. When left to nature’s devices, the good insects, bacteria and fungi that your roses need can continue to do their share of keeping your plants healthy.
