"Many Photos" - Gardening experts spray roses with essence of GARLIC for extra growth

It's been a good year for the roses down at the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden in Surrey.

Just take a look at these magnificent blooms, which have grown to twice their normal size.

The secret? Well, the hot weather has certainly helped, but the key ingredient might come as a surprise to many.

Experts at the society’s gardens in Wisley have been using concentrated essence of garlic to help the roses thrive.

The Royal Horticultural Society’s garden in Surrey have experienced a good year for roses, with growth of up to twice their normal size because of a special ingredient

While in legend it is used to ward off vampires, in the garden the pungent cooking ingredient – nicknamed the ‘stinking rose’ – wards off the bane of many a rose-grower’s life: Black spot.

The fungal disease is the rose’s most feared enemy because left unchecked it will stunt the plant’s growth and leave it looking a sorry sight.

Ben Warren, garden team leader at RHS Wisley, said: ‘This year has been a good year for roses due to the weather.

‘The rose Sally Holmes is a good example. This year it has grown twice the size it has ever been.’

While typically the blooms are up to three-and-a-half inches in diameter, this year many are double the size. He added: ‘At Wisley we fumigate the roses with a concentrate of garlic to create a barrier against black spot.’

Experts at the society’s gardens in Wisley have been using concentrated essence of garlic to help the roses thrive.

The garlic spray is a commercially available mixture called Garshield, which the maker says leaves no taints or flavours and is odourless within minutes of being applied. Some gardeners make their own mixture by putting three garlic bulbs in a food processor, whizzing it up with water, straining it and spraying it on plants.

The rose Sally Holmes is described in the David Austin catalogue as a strong-growing shrub with plentiful, creamy white, semidouble flowers held in large bunches. It is nearly always in bloom, and lightly scented, ideal for attracting bees, and good in all soil types.

n Britain’s rose gardens are at risk from a foreign virus which has caused devastation in the US and Canada, plant scientists have warned.

The rose rosette virus causes distorted leaf growth and deformed stems and flowers.

All varieties of roses are considered to be vulnerable to the virus, which is carried by a mite called an eriophyid which can be blown by the wind.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has ruled that all rose plants and cut flowers imported from Canada, India, Mexico or the US must be accompanied by a certificate confirming that they were grown in an area free from the virus.

Banana skins and tea leaves 

• Some gardeners swear by putting banana skins on the roots of their rose bushes. The skins decompose rapidly and release helpful minerals including potassium, sulphur and calcium


• Coffee grounds and tea leaves are also a useful addition to roses because they too are rich in minerals


• Deadheading roses is a must, gardeners say, because it will encourage more flowers to bloom


• RHS experts say roses need heavy pruning and owners should be ‘ruthless’ with weak, stunted or diseased ones, uprooting them and replacing the soil they were in


• Prune rose branches at a 45 degree angle from the centre of the plant to encourage outward growth.

link
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/gardening-experts-spray-roses-with-essence-of-garlic-for-extra-growth/
News Photo Gardening experts spray roses with essence of GARLIC for extra growth
Advertising
You don’t have to pack away your dress just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!

Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/07/26/00/16514468-7287753-image-a-12_1564097870243.jpg