too late to compost flower beds?

seefin

I was living away for almost a year until a few weeks ago so garden is severely neglected. Is it too late to put down some compost and sow some stock seeds etc so have a bit of colour in a few months?
Also have alot of rose bushes which were never pruned since last summer. They're currently flowering like crazy, can I feed them so I get other flushes of flower over the summer( they come and go all summer usually I think )

_Brian

Never a bad time to add compost.

I wouldn't bother with seeds but you'll get plenty of bedding plants that will have a fabulous show of colour.

I'd just keep the roses deadheaded and that skulls maximise their flowering.

seefin

I was really interesting in gardenng upto a few years ago when life ( and noisy neighbours!!) got in the way-have forgotten all about deadheading etc, thanks for reminding about that. Will I put some rose feed down or wrong time? My poor roses are such battlers, they're only plants that have survived the few years of neglect .
Will pick up a load of bedding plants and compost at weekend.

_Brian

Feed the roses surely.

Day Lewin

Roses are brave fighters and they survive well with a minimum of attention.
Cut off all spent flowers: put some compost round the base. They'd love a bit of manure, too, if you can lay your hands on any.
Ha ha, I mean, spade, of course.
You might pull away any weeds that are growing too near them, too - so they don't have to compete for food and water.

and I agree, its a bit late for sowing seed, (although you could try): plant in some bedding plants instead, they're cheap as chips from any hardware shop, etc.

seefin

Day Lewin wrote:

Roses are brave fighters and they survive well with a minimum of attention. Cut off all spent flowers: put some compost round the base. They'd love a bit of manure, too, if you can lay your hands on any. Ha ha, I mean, spade, of course. You might pull away any weeds that are growing too near them, too - so they don't have to compete for food and water.

Is it too late now to spread manure?? Have a bag left over from a few years ago. Always thought it had to be spread in autumn .

Day Lewin

If the manure is aged, it should be ok to spread a bit - not to drown them, but fork a bit of it around the plants, it helps to aerate the soil.