Guest Author - Hellie T.

Roses.


A good way to enhance the perfume of your roses is to spread compost around them that has been made with a good dose of onion and garlic peelings in it.

Chives planted at the base of your roses will help to keep aphids away from them and also help to enhance their perfume.

Lavender planted around your rose bushes will also have the same results.

Pour all the dregs of your tea pots into a container and when you have collected enough, use the liquid to water your roses with.


Compost
Put annual weeds in your compost heap before they have seeded.

Herbs are good on compost heaps - try valerian, comfrey, nettles, sunflowers, yarrow or chamomile.

If you can get some horse manure - add a couple of bucket fulls to approx 32 pints/15 litres of rainwater and let it soak for a week.
Drain off the resulting black liquid and use it as a fertiliser for your roses and flowering perennials.

I cut up old carpets into squares and use then around the base of plants - they work like a mulch and help to convserve water.
If you put a helping of compost down first this works even better.

Dealing with Pests
There are a surprising number of plants that act like natural insecticides.

To keep greenfly,blackfly and whitefly away from your prize plants - then plant nasturtiums, chives and marigolds around them.

Tansy keeps away flies and ants.

Ants also do not like mints especially spearmint.

Spray aphids with soapy water

Or make your own nettle spray. To do this just cut down two armfulls of nettles and soak them in rainwater for a month. Then drain and spray on plants.


Encourage wildlife into your garden as they make excellent predators of pests.

Ladybirds for instance love to munch on greenfly however they also eat mites, scale insects, mealy bugs and even little caterpillars.

You can make a garlic spray mixture that will discourage slugs, aphids and other insect pests.

It is best to add 100g or 4oz of finely chopped garlic to 2 desert spoons of paraffin oil - let it soak for 2 days. Then add water(8 pints) mix thoroughly. Stand for a day and then strain before use.