Roses

Chicklit asked about the most fragrant roses.

I read a few pages on the most fragrant roses. And the comments to them are helpful as well. People who grow these things have quite a lot to say.

[most fragrant roses]

I have a new philosophy since owning a rose garden that came with a house.

After selecting the species of roses based on their known characteristics. How best to bring those characteristics out?

Picking a fragrant species is one thing, then growing it to maximum fragrance another.

I'd say by eliminating chemicals and preparing the best soil possible. And adjust it to suit roses specifically.

[prepare a rose garden]

A man I encountered on the internet by way of juicing machines and his thousands of videos on that subject is also very well known via internet by his organic gardening obsession. Those two things are linked. He had to completely change his diet to survive. So now he's obsessed with growing his own food the best way possible and preparing and consuming it the best way possible. His garden is about food. His videos are difficult to watch because like all the gardening videos he talks way too much about things only vaguely related.

So now when I research any element of gardening, this man shows up.

I'm seeing him everywhere on other people's sites. He is featured on other gardener's sites. And he's featured on sites that sell products for organic gardens. Because he goes there and visits them. All these people have seen his videos and they're pleased that he's come by to see them.  I've seen him in videos for worm casting producer sites. Last night I saw him featured in a video on a compost tea producer site. He's gone to the places that produce the things needed to amend soils with things that plants need to thrive to the point of super production. They're interested in providing the things need for the best plant health. Things that produce a living soil that works with the plants so they have the best root systems, the strongest branches and stems and circulatory systems, the best strongest foliage, budding, blooms and tastiest fruit, the most resilient to challenges, weather, and most resistant to insects, diseases, and fungal attacks.

These hippies have worked years on this, single minded.

So then, for the best most fragrant roses, start with the best soil possible. For roses.

[preparing soil for rose bushes]

The page tells us the best pH for roses and how to adjust it.

Then it mentions four of the seven elements that organic gardeners use to adjust their soils.

* Alfafa meal
* Kelp meal
* Compost
* Peat moss

Ha ha ha. It is the same deal as any Asian food recipe. We know what the seven common magical Asian ingredients are, then we look for which of those are used in any new recipe, along with any other uncommon ingredient.

Those four things listed on the rose soil site are on the list of common magical soil amendments along with the uncommon pH adjuster lime.

So as reader you go, "I know what you're talking about!" You know why those things are mentioned, while you also know the three other common magical elements not mentioned that would also help your garden soil.

Here's the thing. One of the seven common magical elements not mentioned is rock dust. This material comes in different types. It's basically minerals. Rocks that are reduced to powder. Very much like talcum powder. It provides some seventy minerals used by plants that are not part of chemical fertilizer three main chemical components.

What's funny is reviews on Amazon for any individual component all say, "I added this to my soil and it worked very well. Or they say, added this and there was no noticeable affect. Apparently unaware the item is not fertilizer in itself, rather, it's just one component of an array of soil amendments. Things that add organic carbon, things that add organic nitrogen, things that add fungal and bacterial activity that bring the soil to life and make the other elements available to the plants.

In Colorado you can drive along and see hillsides red with oxidized iron and spotted with shrubs deficient in iron because the soil lacks the living components that live in the root zone and make the minerals available to the plants.

These minerals sit in the soil inert and unavailable to the roots of plants without fungal and microbial life. The microbes that are put into the soil with compost and worm castings or with compost or worm casting tea that go in and surround the root zone bring the minerals into the roots. The addition of other of the seven common magical ingredients makes the soil alive. The plant roots can then draw up the minerals and other components into the plant to become part of the plant's structure, making the plant healthier, more resilient, more resistant, stronger, better tasting, better blooming, more fragrant.

Fertilizers that address nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium specifically to varying degrees do not address everything else that exists in good rounded living soil.

The kind of soil that worms like.

So what then do the best worm casting producers put in their soil for their worms? The obsessed internet guy went there and showed us. The elements added to worm-loving soil are the same elements  added to amend garden soil. It is a very long video and it does go on, but the great thing is he scoops out each element and shows us what it looks like and how it is added and how much. He digs right in and gets his hands filthy with black charcoal. A specific type that's best for plants, for one example.

* So that's one thing: fine powder charcoal, biochar
* Another is hummus material
* Another is chitlin material crab shells and the like.
* Compost, obviously.
* Rock dust, a broad combination of minerals in dust form.
* Seaweed of some type. Kelp.
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* The worm people add coffee grounds for their worms.
* While non-worm people add worm castings purchased from the worm people who used coffee grounds.

The main things: compost and worm castings, the rest are used in less amounts. All together they're things that chemical fertilizers do not have and that produce spectacular plants. And the best thing is you cannot overdo it. You will not burn your plants with too much of one thing or another. Within reason, of course, obviously if you dump raw sewage on your garden imagining it top compost that might burn out your plants such as dogs burn out spots on a lawn.