Pruning Begins....

It's really sunny and warm out today so pruned and oiled 1 rosebed this morning. It takes me about 1 hour to do each bed and I have 5 different beds, so I like to space it out throughout the next few weekends. Here is my arsenal of supplies for the job:

After I prune, I use the sprayer for the horticultural/dormant oil. I put 2.5 tablespoons of the concentrated oil in the sprayer which is about 1/2 a gallon. You can buy the kind that hooks up to the hose, but we don't bring the hose out for awhile in case of a freeze, so this thing works. You can get one at Home Depot for about $6.

The Elmer's glue is for the large canes that I cut. If the cane is larger than a pencil, I put a little glue on the end. Nail polish works too. Keeps out the cane borers. Covering the cuts and spraying dormant oil really keeps the bugs in check around here. I don't have a big insect problem in my garden (except for the beetles and aphids which are pretty easy to get rid of).

1 bed down. Such a good feeling!