Planting your Rose
From Peter Beales Knowledgebase
Soil Preparation
It is wise to think well in advance about the soil you are going to be planting your rose into.
To begin with It is good to know a little about your soil type. Is it sandy, chalky, clay or loam? On the whole roses love clay, enjoy a well balanced loam, tolerate sandy conditions but will struggle in chalk so soils of the latter two types will require conditioning. It is also useful to know the Ph of your soil. pH testing kits are readily available and are inexpensive, therefore a good investment. Roses prefer a neutral to acid soil, a pH of around 6.5 but are very happy on the margins of this. A pH of 7 or below indicates an acid soil and will require the addition of garden lime or mushroom compost to help redress the balance. Like wise an alkaline soil will require improvement. A well rotted farmyard manure is ideal but not always readily available. Peat is also good but as a finite resource should be avoided if possible, there are some very good peat substitutes available instead.
Soil should be well dug in advance and it is at this stage that any additions can be made.
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