How your roses thrive depends on many factors, the most important of all is having the right kind of soil. For those who are new to growing and taking care of roses you are probably unsure of what kind of soil to use and how often you need to maintain it. Even those who have been growing roses for while find it hard to find just the right soil mixture for their rose garden.

There are four elements that need to be used in rose soil. The first element is inorganic material, inorganic material consist of clay, sand and silt. Inorganic material should make up about 45% of the soil mixture. Next is organic material which is also known as humus. Organic is made up of mostly decomposed material. You also need plenty of air and water. In a good mix of soil there are pores and about half those pores are for water and half the pores are for air.

In order for them to thrive roses need a lot of nutrients. You should use a good combination of compost or manure with your soil mixture. You can substitute store bought manure and peat moss if you need to. The pH balance of your soil should be between 6.5 and 6.8. The soil should feel light and crumble when squeezed. If you find that the soil is too sticky or that it feels too sandy you will need to change the mixture of it.

It can be difficult to find a mixture perfect for growing roses. In fact many rose gardeners tend to make their own soil mix for their roses. If you are an inexperienced mixer you can run into a few problems making your own perfect rose soil. You have to be very careful when you are adding organic material, if you add too much the soil will have too high of an acid content.

If you have added organic material that has not yet decomposed you will have to add nitrogen. Organic material must be exposed to nitrogen before it can start the decomposing process. Once you have your loam mixed you need to check it for drainage, you need to be sure that your soil has good drainage. You can help the drainage in your soil by adding peat moss, just do not add too much as it decomposed slowly and will change the pH balance of the soil.

You can test the drainage in your soil by digging a hole about a foot deep and filling it with water. The water should be absorbed in about fifteen minutes. If it takes longer than the fifteen minutes you need to add more organic material to your soil to get the drainage right. Drainage is very important your help your roses live a long and healthy life. If water runs off too slowly or too quickly your roses will not thrive.

When you are planting your roses be sure to dig a hole at least 12-15 inches deep. This will be sure that you can put your roses in the ground without damaging the roots. Before you place the rose bush in the hole, loosen the dirt at the bottom and add some manure. When you put the rose plant in the hole, you will need to keep the dirt around it loose. After adding about 3/4 of the dirt, water the plant and then add the rest of the soil. Be sure to mound the dirt around the rose plant to prevent it drying out.