News & Updates:

Weeds are mentioned on many occasions in various chapters. They are debited with sheltering scale, aphis, thrips, and other pests, and robbing the soil of food and moisture. They are credited with helping, especially during the winter, in soil aeration, and the retention of plant foods round their roots, so that it does not leach away from the level of rose roots. These vices and virtues do exist, and it is necessary to strike a medium. Any soil incapable of producing a crop of weeds must also be incapable of sustaining other plants. This can serve as a very useful guide and assessor of soil fertility.

During the three or four months between mid April and early August, weeds will grow considerably, serve many useful purposes while growing, and later make excellent manure. It is of no advantage to turn weeds either into the soil itself or into the compost heap during late autumn or midwinter. After winter pruning they may be turned into the soil by digging the beds over to a depth of about three inches. During the remainder of the year regular cultivation will keep weeds from growing, but, in any case, weeds will never do any harm unless they are allowed to grow tall enough to smother bush roses, especially very young plants, from sunlight or, as in the case of couch grass and other weeds that grow in a creeping manner, they become so densely tangled that it is no longer possible to loosen the soil sufficiently to prevent water from running off the beds.