I started growing organic roses to keep my costs down.  Since I didn’t have a job at the time and roses were just a hobby, I thought I shouldn’t really be putting too much money into them.  Now I like organic gardening because I have a young son at home who likes to play in the yard.  I don’t mind so much if he’s putting dirt in his mouth or rolling on the grass when I know that no dangerous chemicals are being used and everything is organic.

I believe that following practices for organic rose gardening is actually more in tune with the natural way of what is healthful for plants.  Just like people who eat a well-balanced nutritious diet aren’t dependent on chemically derived vitamins and supplements, roses who enjoy rich soil and healthy water and light levels aren’t dependent on chemical fertilizers and aren’t as prone to the pests and diseases which would require chemical deterrents.

Organic Rose Gardening Starts With Healthy Soil

Good soil is the foundation of a good organic rose garden.  Soil naturally contains bacteria, fungus, nematodes, worms, plus other organisms.  These animals, fungi, and bacteria have a vital role to play in nature – they help decompose dead organic matter, unlocking the nutrients they contain and making them available for re-absorption by other plants.  Planting your roses in a good composed-enriched soil, and adding a steady diet of new organic material (compost, rotted manure, bone meal, blood meal, mulches, etc.) can help keep the level of organic material and nutrients high for your rose bushes throughout their life.

When you use chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, these substances can destroy natural soil organisms and disrupt the natural decomposition cycle, hindering the natural process.  Without helpful bacteria to protect rose plant roots, harmful fungi can move in and damage your plants.

Compost is Your Rose Garden’s Superfood

Although you can buy compost in bags or bulk at the garden center, it’s easy to make your own at home.  You can make a slow compost pile by piling up a variety of organic material (generally in a 3’ cube and letting it sit for a while – a year or so.  If you want your compost to rot faster, you can add more nitrogen rich materials like cow or horse manure, dried kitchen waste like fruit peels and grass clippings.  You don’t need a fancy compost container or bin.  Just a pile on the ground is fine as long as you’re willing to be patient.

Organic Roses Are Easy and Beautiful

Your rose garden doesn’t have to be certified organic to benefit from the organic processes that have been developed, perfected and publicized by many organic gardeners in the past 60 years.  J.R. Rodale was publisher of Organic Gardening magazine and this publication has done a lot to advance the popularity of organic gardening as an alternative to the chemical gardening that is widely practiced thanks to modern science.

The good news is that growing roses organically is inexpensive and easy.  You can care for your roses without needing to purchase chemical fertilizers or pest control.  The trade off is that you will have to be vigilant in quickly spotting problems your roses may be developing and knowledgeable about what to do to treat the problems.  For example, leaf discoloration can indicate a variety of nutritional inadequacies.  Different diseases and pests can be treated with a variety of organic methods, but they work best when caught quickly.

Even if you’re not sure an organic rose garden will work for you, you can always base your primary rose care methods on the organic gardening philosophy and switch back to chemicals if something unexpected or disastrous happens in terms of rose disease or infestation.  It may be better than losing your rose bushes.

My goal in gardening roses and anything else is to always get more out of it than I put in.  While I certainly reap enjoyment and satisfaction from the time I spend in my garden, I also find great joy in creating something out of nothing when it comes time to harvest my rose blossoms.  I feel that saving money (and possibly protecting the environment) by using organic rose gardening methods is certainly well worth it as a primary approach for getting your garden growing.