Re: [gardeners] Lurkers come out

Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 13 Oct 1997 08:05:16 -0700 

At 10:25 AM 10/13/97 -0400, Seyfried,Alice wrote:
>Hi everyone!  
>
>I'm another transplant from the Gardens-L list.  I live in London, Ohio
>(zone 5b-6, depending on which side of my house you're on at the moment.
>My husband and I (all right, he did most, I mean all, of the work), tore
>down our rose garden this weekend. I used to have about 25 hybrid teas
>which I inherited when we bought our house 6 years ago.  They were
>beautiful when we moved in and the former owner really took wonderful
>care of them.  Unfortunately, they suffered from "Alice-itis" (i.e.
>procrastination, and neglect) and two babies (PJ and Danny) in the last
>4 years.  You see, I'm a very lazy gardener and anything I put in my
>gardens has to flourish on it's own or it gets replaced.  I love to
>plant new things and design new beds.  I love the thrill of finding a
>new plant that I've never tried before.  I love digging in the dirt and
>watching my plantings bloom.  I hate winterizing, maintenance and
>pruning; three things hybrid tea roses can't live without.  Over the
>last few years, they've slowly declined and many have died.  Only 3 of
>them bloomed this summer and because I never pruned them, they only
>bloomed a few times.  Part of me feels this incredible need to apologize
>to all gardeners for being so neglectful of my roses, the other part of
>me says "tough, rip 'em out and put something else in."  Fortunately,
>that's also what my hubby said.  So out they came.  
>
>The garden is a square island situated on the diagonal in my back yard.
>It receives a good many hours of sun per day, so we're going to make it
>a vegetable garden in the spring.  Hubby is going to get a load of llama
>manure this week from a friend near by.  We'll till that in and let it
>sit for the winter.  Is llama manure good stuff?  We also plan on
>tilling all of our falled leaves into the bed this fall. Should we add
>some general fertilizer, also?
>
>Thanks!
>Alice in London, Ohio (zone 6)
>seyfried@oclc.org
>
Hi, Alice.  Don't feel too bad about ripping out your roses.  Just telll
yourself and others that you wanted to see how other things grew.  Llama
manure should be great, especially applied this fall.  I wouldn't add
anything else but the leaves this fall.  It might be a good idea in spring
to at least test the pH of the soil to make sure it's not extremely acidic
(below 6.0, for instance).  Margaret