There's Something In My Soil

I moved here 18 month ago and am a keen novice gardener and had a numerous

of plants and shrubs from roses to privets and hebies and last year i spent seeing what would grow in my little garden of a 20FT X 20FT and watching the sun.

As the season progressed i noticed that my roses had black spot and rusting on the leaves so off i toddled to the garden center and i bought some fungus control for roses and ornamental plants, i applied it as instructed on the lable and to no avail the rust and the black spot was still there.

So then one of my gardening friends said to dig plenty of mulch into the soil and leave it over winter to which i did so and guess what it back so in march i dug all the roses out as i thought they were diseased and then treated the soil once more but the honey suckle and the plum tree are now showing signs of the fungus with yellowing leaves on the plum tree and on the fruit it prduced so ive picked these off (see pic) and the honeysuckle is yellowing and premerturing dropping leaves please help thank you

Black spot is a fungus that will attack roses regularly. The treatment is to spray regularly with a suitable fungicide (e.g., Roseclear) from the time that the leaves appear until they fall - that way, you will get far less black spot. There was no need to get rid of them.

Honeysuckle - it probably has mildew. Again, it needs to be sprayed regularly to keep it under control. It is also important to make sure that its roots are kept moist, as dryness will encourage mildew.

They are not the same fungus causing the problem on your roses and your honeysuckle, nor the plum tree.

Some roses are more prone to black spot than others so you could do some research and buy some that are less likely to get it, but if you're going to enjoy gardening you're going to have to settle for a little less than perfection - no gardener ever manages that