Roses are a significant part of my garden, as I have five of these plants in different colours and varieties. After pruning my roses in March, there was just one essential task left for me to do, apart from watering - adding fertiliser. While roses will flower without feeding them, to achieve bigger and better blooms, fertiliser is a must.

Liam Beddall, gardening expert and senior rose consultant at David Austin Roses, explained to me that feeding your roses will "encourage strong, healthy growth and abundant flowering". It's a relatively quick and simple task, yet one of the most beneficial you can do to ensure your roses are in their healthiest state when summer arrives.

Roses are heavy feeders, meaning they require a great deal of nutrients to grow strong and produce abundant blooms.

To feed my roses, I use the David Austin Controlled Release Rose Food. The formula of this fertiliser means you only need to feed your rose "once a year to encourage strong, healthy growth and abundant flowering".

The rose feed releases nutrients at the optimal time by using soil temperature and moisture levels to understand your rose's needs, ensuring no waste.

Before applying the fertiliser around my roses, I put on my gardening gloves and used a hand fork to clear away weeds, dead leaves and other debris from the base.

I then scatter approximately 30g of the rose feed around the base using the measuring scoop provided. For a shrub rose, apply 30g; for climbing or rambling roses, apply 60g.

Having applied the fertiliser, I next make sure the area is thoroughly mulched. Mulching involves adding a protective layer around the base of your roses. I achieved this by using garden compost comprising all my kitchen scraps and garden waste.

The main benefit of mulching here is that it assists roses in retaining moisture, keeps weeds at bay and delivers valuable nutrients to the flower as it develops.

To complete this task, I make sure to water as close to the base of the rose as possible. Once the water began to run away from the base, I paused briefly to allow it to absorb into the soil before carrying on for a little while longer.