Brash and Roses

 This week at Rosemoor was spent in the new formal area of the garden.  Much of the week was spent in the Queen Mothers Rose Garden.  We began by forking over the beds of recently pruned rose bushes which was to try to fight the compaction of the soil.  After the forking was done the beds were fed with slow fertilizer and then the mulching began.  The mulch which consisted of sawdust, compost, and horse manure was carefully placed around the rose crowns to prevent them from rotting off.  One day this week was spent in the lower woodland burning brash.  In the lower woodland there is a monoculture stand of spruce that has become plagued by the great spruce bark beetle.  In order to try and control the pest several steps have been taken like removing infected trees and near by trees to create a quarentine area around the infected site.  This felled wood is then burned which to get rid of the pest.  Rosemoor has also released a biological control a natural enemy of the beetle to try and control the pest population.  It is still a possibiltiy that all the spruce may have to be removed but a new planting policy is in place to replant with several different species of evergreen tress.  Also this week I had the opportunity to go to a onion and shallots planting class which I really enjoyed being interested in fruit and veg.  I can't wait to start growing my own.