The Almighty Hole

I don't like to think about the time and fertilizers I've wasted by digging holes that are too deep.  As a novice, I was informed that holes had to be two feet deep and two feet wide.  Two feet is too deep for rose roots, which don't often get longer than one foot. I understand the supposed advantage of nutrients deep in ;the ground that roots eventually grow into, making the bushes act as if they have hit paydirt. But even if nutrients are placed there, they will have leached out from watering by the time roots reach them.  I compromise and dig holes eighteen inches deep and two feet wide.  As you'll learn, I prefer to do most of my fertilizing above soil level anyway.

I've stuck to digging holes two feet wide, though, because I've seen the advantages.  If you dig up a bush that you've planted some six months earlier, you'll find masses of tiny hairlike growth projecting from all the roots you stuck in the ground six months ago.  These "feeder roots" are the real workers, supplying bushes with nutrients, and they're everywhere within a two-foot radius of the center of most bushes.  To develop massively, feeder roots must grow in friable (easily crumbled) soil.

Examine the soil you get from digging a hole eighteen inches deep by two feet wide.  If you know or have been told that it's decent garden soil, save it.  If it's too compact or reveals that it lacks nutritional value by being all one pale color, get rid of it and use one of the commercially available products.  Packaged soil, such as Supersoil, is just what you'd like your basic soil to be--a loose, friable medium that mixes easily with additives.

Where I grow roses, the soil is almost pure sand from an old riverbed.  It has some nutritional and grace elements and willingly accepts additives.  If you have anything resembling garden loam, you're even better off.  In fact, unless you're dealing with clay or heavily compacted soil, you can probably use what you have as half of what you need to refill the hole.  The remaining half, in equal portions, should come from:

1.  Aged manure.  Cow and steer manures are the most readily available.  Chicken is better, and rabbit better yet, as they contain higher percentages of nitrogen.  Whichever you use, aging is important because fresh manure burns new roots with the intense heat it throws off during its early decomposition.  Aged manure is sold at most nurseries in soft plastic forty-pound bags.  For each hole you fill, you'll need about twenty pounds, or 7I/2 gallons.

2.  Organic materials.  Here you have a choice of several wonderful sources.  One is peat moss, although it will probably be more expensive than anything else.  Composts made from redwood shavings, fir bark, or other shredded woody sources are cheaper.  Since any of the organics will do, either singly or in combination, for the 12I/2 gallons (1I/2 cubic feet) you'll need per hole, watch for local nursery sales.

Don't overlook local sources of compost.  We buy compost from a nearby mushroom farm.  The soil mushrooms grow in is good for only one crop.  Afterwards, it's spent for mushrooms, but nutritional for roses because it's composed of all their favorite foods.

If you use peat moss, you should be aware that because it is compressed for packaging, it will unrelentingly shed water if used straight from the package.  To take advantage of its absorbing qualities, break up the compressed material and put it to soak in a large container that will allow total submersion (I use trash cans the day of garbage pickup).  Soaked in water for twenty-four hours and then squeezed, peat moss will perform properly from the start.

If you use an organic material made from a wood derivative, remember that it should be in compost form. Raw sawdust, while of the right texture, needs nitrogen to break down and will rob the bush of any available sources of it.  You might also look for one of the wood products available to which nitrogen has already been added.  These products will break down on their own without usurping nitrogen needed by the bush.

Mix well the soil you saved, aged manure, and one of the organic materials, using a wheelbarrow or other large container if available.  (If not, mix the soil in the hole itself.)  After combining materials, fill half the hole and water well.

The next step is to create a cone of mounded soil over which the bareroot bush will be placed.  But, first, an anatomy lesson.