Monty Don reveals the only time of the year you can plant roses & it’s coming up, plus his essential ‘healing in’ tip
MONTY Don has revealed the tips he swears by for flourishing roses as the time of year to plant them approaches.
The gardening expert said now is the time to order bare-root roses from an online retailer or nursery.
Don, 69, shared his must-try tips for planting “the nation’s favourite flower” in a recent episode of the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine podcast.
He revealed that containerised roses can be planted year-round as long as the soil conditions are right.
“If the soil is sticking to your boots or your hands wait for it to dry a bit,” he said.
“If it’s powdery, dig the planting hole then fill it with water and let the water drain away before planting.”
However, he personally prefers to opt for bare-root roses instead as they tend to be “healthier, much cheaper, and you have much more variety to choose from.”
“If you buy bare-root roses they have to be planted when they’re dormant which means November through to the end of February,” he said.
“You won’t be able to get bare-root plants before November anyway.”
The roses can be ordered online and directly from nurseries now for delivery later in the year.
Don said this allows for stunning roses that “you’ll never see in a garden centre.”
“All the best rose growers have a really wide choice of bare-root plants,” he said.
“When you receive bare-root plants they either have to go into a bucket of water immediately and be planted within a day or so or they have to be healed in.
“By healing in all it means is you dig a sort of temporary trench and cover them up.
“What I do is just dig a slit about that deep and pile the earth up around them so the roots are covered.
“The roots must never, ever be exposed to the air.
“I always have them planted when I’ve had them in a bucket.
October gardening jobs
The Sun’s Gardening Editor, Veronica Lorraine, has shared the jobs you need to tackle in October.
“It’s a good time to trim deciduous hedges – like box, yew, hawthorn, hornbean and beech – plus hedge trimmers are a great upper body workout!
Make leafmould – gather up all the fallen leaves and fill either bin bags or plastic carrier bags. Seal the top, stick a few small holes in the bag – and then store for a year or more. Free compost!
It’s unlikely you’ll get any more red tomatoes so have one final harvest and chuck the plants on the compost. See if you can get the green ones to ripen by putting in a drawer (some say with a banana). Also keep the seeds from a couple – and plant again next year if they went well.
Finish getting in your spring bulbs. Ideally you’d have done daffs and alliums, but tulips are better in the ground when the soil temperature gets a bit colder.
It’s good to leave some plant litter in the ground – it adds to the nutrients as it rots down, and provides shelter and food for insects. But remove the manky brown bits collapsing all over the lawn/winter structure.
Mulch – it not only suppresses weeds, but keeps the soil warm, improves water retention and adds a little winter duvet to your outside space.
October’s a good month for carrots, peas, asparagus, broad beans, and rhubarb.”
“They go from bucket to hole because the little feeding roots are the width of a hair, they are very fine and they will dry out literally in minutes.
“If they dry out there’s a tendency for them to die and therefore the feeding is interrupted.”
Although bare-root roses take more planning than containerised roses, Don said the process doesn’t have to be stressful.
“The great thing about roses is they are tough,” he said.
“They are a glorified bramble so don’t worry about it.
“Don’t get precious about roses. Celebrate, love them, plant them but don’t be frightened of them.”