I have to say as I write this I feel a little guilty because the rest of the Canada is in the grips of a nasty winter but here on the West Coast winter seems to be passing us by.  So with this said I am taking this snow-free opportunity to start to prepare my garden for spring.  I just completed my first full growing season here in the Fraser Valley and what a season it was, the weather was wonderful and I managed to not go bezerk at every garden centre in town!  Some of the plants are waking up  and are hungry for some food.  My solution for this, especially the roses, is one part rotted steer manurer and one part tea goop.

I call it tea goop because its all the tea leaves, bananna peels, coffee grinds and eggshells that I have been adding to a bin all winter.  Some people, namely my husband thinks its discusting, but its good food for hungry plants, (he doesn’t garden but he loves to build stuff)!  I add a bit of water to the tea goop and mix it up with a claw, then add a scoop to the poop and mix it into the raised rose bed, my potted rose and the two roses directly planted in the ground.

This is also the time while the ground is thawed to clean up debris in the beds and prune any old dead wood on the roses.  Now I admit I am the world’s worst rose pruner!  I see the new, pink, baby shoots and I just don’t have the heart to cut them off!  So to any rose expert I am sure mine would be a mess, I am more inclined to prune when I am cutting the blooms to bring into the house.   So for now I am snow-free, but not home free, as there are still a few weeks of winter to get through!

P.S. sorry if you are reading this and your own garden is buried under the white stuff…hold on spring will arrive eventually!!!

Pinkie’s Up!