Composting and gardening go hand in hand. It is one of the never ending cycles – plants pull nutrients from the soil, use them, create nutrients of their own using sun and air, die, and their nutrients go back into the soil. A compost heap can speed the process along by adding many other organic materials which may be otherwise missing from the soil in the garden. This is definitely a good flower fertilizer.

Composting tips:
A compost container is a great advantage, as it allows a gardener to make their own organic rose fertilizer. Many cities and towns have compost programs where containers can be bought from the city for a fairly low cost, sometimes free, or in the absence of a container, a large wooden box or a very large hole will work. Make sure scraps are buried well, or there will be a vermin problem. Many things from the average household can go into a compost bucket – grass clippings, dirt, leaves, fruit and vegetable peelings, egg shells, and even coffee grounds. Everyone’s compost ends up different.

It is a good idea to add a layer of dirt and worms to the compost bucket once in a while, to speed up the decomposition process, and cut down on the smell. Also be careful not to add too much of any one “ingredient”, such as grass clippings, or the nutrient balance will be off.

While composting, if you clip diseased leaves or stems, or weeds from the grass, be careful not to compost them. Any disease or seed from a weed will remain alive in the compost and begin to grow all over the rose bushes and the rose garden.

A compost bucket or heap is a big step towards organic rose gardening. For proper rose care, make sure compost contains all the necessary nutrients. For example, the compost may be missing phosphorus. This can often be supplemented by a trip to the gardening supply store. Just read the fertilizer information on the containers of fertilizer, and see if any of them contain just the missing mineral. If not, there are many creative ways to get a specific nutrient into the ground. Compost is often missing phosphorus and/or another mineral, but this can be supplemented with the laying of manure once or twice a year. Manure (cow or mushroom) is also a good organic fertilizer for a rose garden, and adds many needed nutrients and microbes to the soil.

Compost and manure are also very good as mulch, for a gardener to lay down to protect the rose garden from weeds and to prevent moisture loss in the summer. Neither of them will pull nutrients from the ground.

Compost is a very useful activity for any gardener. A rose garden greatly benefits from a compost heap, and the compost keeps the soil in the garden healthy by replacing nutrients and minerals that the soil lost to the plants.