prevent your rose

Any gardener who has grown roses knows that sooner or later you are going to encounter a problem or two. But growing roses isn't as difficult as you might have heard. Choosing the right type of rose and giving it the care that it needs are common sense approaches to carefree plants. Planting your roses in combination with other plants, rather than in an exclusively rose garden, can further cut down on problems. However we are often drawn to the beautiful prima donas in the rose world and these will require more attention. The best remedy for rose problems is a good defense.

Prevent Rose Problems Before They Occur

Choose Resistant Varieties: Where you are gardening plays an important role in which roses you should be growing. Humid areas will always be prone to mildew. Hot, dry climates need roses that can withstand a little drought. Check with your local Cooperative Extension Service for a list of disease resistant varieties for your area.
Keep Them Healthy & Vigorous: Pests are bullies and they will pick on the weakest plants first. Unless you’re growing roses to compete, rose bushes aren’t nearly as fussy as you may have been led to believe.
Keep your roses watered and fed.
Don’t over do the nitrogen. Lots of tender new growth attracts aphids.
Prune to allow air circulation, particularly in humid climates.
Stop pruning at least 6 weeks before expected frost, so new growth is not damaged by the cold.
Mulch around rose plant roots to prevent soil born diseases from splashing onto leaves
Clean up Fallen Debris and Dead and Diseased Plant Parts: Good sanitation can foil a lot of problems.
A mildewed leaf that falls and remains on the ground will send spores to the rest of the plant.
Fallen leaves can provide a safe haven for insects and diseases to over-winter and re-infest the plant next season.
A damaged or dead branch is an inviting entry point for many pests.
Learn Which Insects are Problems and Encourage the Good Guys: Random spraying of insecticides does more harm than good. There will always be more trips flying in or more aphids being born. Encourage the insects that feed on these pests. And don’t panic at the first sign of a pest. If there are no pests, there will be no reason for the beneficial insects to take up residence in your garden. There needs to be a balance in your garden.
Lady beetles are renowned aphid eaters.
Green Lacewings eat aphids, mites, thrips and many insect eggs.
Predatory Mites feed on thrips and spider mites
Parasitic Wasps attack caterpillars
Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be an insect predator for Japanese Beetles. Pesticides aren’t particularly effective against adult beetles and hand picking is your best option.

Avoid Annual Diseases with a Preventative Spray: Even during years of drought, humid climates can expect some Black Spot on roses. A dormant spray of a fungicide applied after pruning will help greatly in offsetting the problem. A rose fungicide containing either lime or copper is a good low toxic choice.

How To Start Seedlings for your Garden

Seedlings save you time and effort by allowing you to skip over the delicate seed phase of a plant's life. However, seedlings are still in a fragile stage of development, and a novice gardener will need to prepare adequately in order to prove his green thumb.

Here are the steps to start seedlings for your garden.

    Prepare four-inch pots for seedlings. Fill the pots just below the rim with potting mix. You can buy the mix in a gardening store or make them yourself with a blend of peat moss.
    Transfer the seedlings from their old pots to their new ones. Lift the old pots, turn them upside down then press on all the sides. The potting mix should then be loosened enough to be released; you can also slit the sides of the old pot to allow for additional pressure. Carefully remove the soil ball from the fragile root system.
    Create a hole in the potting mix to fit in the roots of the seedling. Cup the soil ball with your hand to support it during transfer. Gently insert the seedling into the pot, fill in the roots with the surrounding mix then water the seedling. Set the pot under a bright light, but avoid direct sunlight for now. Add liquid fertilizer on a regular basis to provide adequate nutrients to them.

    Prevent fungal infestation. If your seedlings suddenly wither and die, there’s a good chance a fungal growth has gotten to it at the roots. Use pasteurized potting mix and clean and bleach the pots thoroughly before use. You can also space the seedlings so that the fungus won't transfer through all of them. Thinning them out is also required once they develop their second set of true leaves. You may either transfer excess seedlings to another yard or dispose of them.
    Learn about your seedlings' specific needs. Many edible plants need plenty of light in order to grow. If natural light is unavailable, you will need to install florescent lighting for the seedlings. Other summer-attuned seedlings need a warm bed of soil to continue its development. You will then need a heating mat to warm the potting mix for the next couple of weeks. Both florescent lighting and heating mat can be purchased in gardening stores.
    Harden your seedlings before transferring them to open ground. Pot-grown seedlings that are grown using controlled conditions may lack the toughness it needs to deal with the elements. You will need to gradually expose the seedlings to outdoor conditions. Lay them outside in direct sunlight for a few hours then lengthen the time they are outdoors during the succeeding days. You can also use this technique for cold weather. Avoid over-hardening your seedlings, however, as some plants can bolt (flower prematurely) when exposed again and again to cold weather.


Seedling care is among the more advanced gardening skills, and requires a balance of nurturing, monitoring and protection in order to succeed. Once you go past the seedling phase, taking care of the plants will be less of a hassle as they will develop hardier systems to resist adverse conditions.

How To Stop Mushrooms from Growing

Mushrooms may be fine on the dinner table, but when small and inedible wild mushrooms start growing in your lawn, it can be quite disgusting. If you want to prevent mushrooms from growing in your house or in the lawn, here are some steps that you need to follow.

    Dry. First of all, you need to make sure that your house is as dry as possible. Remember, a mushroom is a type of fungus that needs very few things in order to survive. One of the things that it does need in order to live, however, is some water. If a place is moist and not enough sunlight gets into the area, fungi and mushrooms can begin to grow. By keeping your house dry at all times, you should be able to prevent mushrooms from growing. This can, however, be a bit difficult when talking about your yard, which you probably need to keep, watered to keep the grass alive.
    Cut. Next, make sure that you cut down some of the larger tree branches that obstruct sunlight from getting to your lawn. Apart from moisture, mushrooms thrive in places that have plenty of shade. By making sure that you remove the excessive branches in the trees in your backyard, you should be able to prevent mushrooms from growing near the trunk, or in the shade of the tree. The next time you consider planting trees in your backyard, also try choosing trees that grow tall, but which do not have branches that spread out too much.

    Clean. Also make sure that you clean your surroundings regularly. If there are cans or containers lying around where water can collect, make sure that you dispose of these items or that you cover them. This way, mushrooms will not grow inside of these old and dirty cans. Also make sure that you remove dead plants and rotting wood from your yard. These contain nitrates that mushrooms love. After you have finished mowing your lawn, also be sure to collect the cut leaves so that they will not become fodder for mushrooms.
    Fungicide. If cleaning, cutting, and keeping your surroundings dry is not enough to prevent mushrooms from growing around your house, you should consider using fungicide. As much as possible, the use of fungicide should only be a last resort. After all, fungicide can disrupt the beneficial microorganisms that are living in the soil. When you use fungicide, be sure to read the instructions and labels well, and make sure that you apply the fungicide only in areas where you have seen mushrooms grow. These fungicide are usually available in hardware shops.
    Lime. Finally, you can also consider adding some lime in your soil. Lime is much friendlier on the soil compared to fungicide, and will only work to reduce the acidity in the soil. Because mushrooms usually grow best in soil that is fairly acidic, adding a little bit of lime in the soil may help to eradicate mushrooms.


With these easy steps, you should be able to easily prevent mushrooms from growing, and kill the mushrooms that are already in your house.

How To Clean a Pool

Step 1

Tile cleaning has two aspects - the removal of the streak formed by the accumulation of grime, all lotions and other skin applications, and the removal of the deposit formation or lime scale due to the hardness of water. Dirt line can be removed by brushing the dirt line with tile cleaners specially meant for this, while using a pumice stone is a good way to tackle the hard water deposits. Unless this brushing and cleaning is regularly done, the deposits and dirt can become stubborn streaks of algae and dirt. While brushing, ensure that pump is at maximum suction and the brushing is from the dirt line towards the deep end and the main drain. Some algae and dirt also beat a path directly from grassy and green pathways to the pool. Keeping your pool surroundings tiled or the greenery trimmed clear off the path will help.
Step 2

Surface cleaning -Confirm that the skimmer weir and the filtration system are working fine. If there is no skimmer weir in the pool, all the surface cleaning will have to be done manually, a leaf net being an ideal device for collecting and removing all drifting leaves and other foreign objects. Using a rake helps in gathering the muck on the surface. All the collected debris should be bagged and trashed as dried debris lying around will find its way back when it's windy. Squeezing some tile cleaner all along the pool will make any surface froth gather at the pool edges, making for easier cleaning. If the pool is located in an area which collects a lot of rubbish, then it may be necessary to check if this has also piled up at the pool bottom. If yes, remove with a leaf bagger or leaf net. An alternative is to fix, to the suction hose at the skimmer, a leaf catcher during vacuuming. Ensure that the water level is always at the skimmer level and never below.
Step 3

Regular inspection. Ensure that you inspect and clean the skimmer basket daily and the pump strainer basket weekly, so that filtering and suction runs properly.
Step 4

Examine, clean, tune and recharge the filter so that it works at its optimum efficiency. Check the starting pressure levels and the suction strength which are the indicators for a service. While servicing, ensure that all parts of the filet are also fine and working well. The pump also needs to be serviced regularly.
Step 5

Vacuum the pool weekly once at least, increasing the regularity in windy weather. Keep in mind that the vacuum hose has to be cleared of any air before attaching to the suction point. ‘Vacuuming to waste', through a setting on a multiport valve, is the most efficient cleaning method in situations where there is larger piling of debris, but this will also increase the amount of water spent.
Step 6

Clean the decking area. Use a high pressure cleaner along with a 5% chlorine solution is also necessary to eliminate bacteria and check infection. Prior to moving the cover, ensure that almost all the dirt from the deck and cover is cleaned and the cover is neatly kept in a clean area.
Step 7

Proper storage of tools. A mechanic is only as good as his tools. Store your tools and accessories as recommended in the manual and away from direct sunlight.

After all that work, the pool is now ready for you and that first dip will make all your cleaning efforts worthwhile. The rest of the swim is just the icing on the cake.