Roses, reverse sheet mulching, and chicken update

I have this rose in my backyard, luckily it still has the tag on it. I found some pretty good info on how to prune it on this page on about.com. And another one on ehow.com that was specific to my specific rose. Cool! Now I just need to see if I have pruners. I have to not be afraid and make sure others are not afraid of "hard pruning" which is what this rose requires. It's pretty tall and straggly and I think last summer there was one or two blooms. According to everything I've read tonight, it's a prolific bloomer. So I have to conquer my fear!!! Well good luck to me. I've also heard in my master gardeners class that you are supposed to wait til President's Day to prune since that's when the danger or freezing is supposed to have passed.

Chickens were excited today to get some extra grass clumps and a little pico de gallo for the gallinas made of Granny Smith Apples and Zuchinni that needed to get out of the fridge to make room for groceries. Today, I did what I had been thinking about for some time. I put compost out on the ground where the pumplkins and zuchinis were and where the powdery mildew took over. I spread and hoed in the compost a little. I covered it with a few large sheets of damp cardboard. It's kinda like reverse sheet mulching, but I didn't wanted to give the weeds a free lunch. We'll see if this experiment works. I hope to build up the soil so what ever we plant there, will have a better change to resist the dreaded powdery mildew!