I mulch the garden when I can and don't really feed anything in the garden apart from the dahlias and roses, everything else looks after itself. It is good to feed plants in pots.
There is a little saying about n, p and k values in fertilisers and that is up, down and all around, basically nitrogen feeds leafy growth, phosphorous can help with roots and potassium all around. It's a simplified version but easy to remember.
I don't wish to be pedantic, but spelling IS important in communication.
"John Innes 1, 2 and 3 which are lam based or Levington's which is houmous based"
A sheep used to be buried under a fruit tree in the old days. Levingtons was peat-based, now peat-free, but never based on chickpeas. But I first read it as "humorous", thank you for giving us a laugh.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I mulch the garden when I can and don't really feed anything in the garden apart from the dahlias and roses, everything else looks after itself. It is good to feed plants in pots.
There is a little saying about n, p and k values in fertilisers and that is up, down and all around, basically nitrogen feeds leafy growth, phosphorous can help with roots and potassium all around. It's a simplified version but easy to remember.
Alex, I would think none of the cottage garden type plants you list - foxgloves, lupins would need feeding at all unless you have really poor soil devoid of organic matter and nutrients. The best beings to ask are your plants, they can tell you better than us! Seriously, if they are healthy and flower well, they are clearly happy and don’t need any extra help. I don’t feed dahlias or fig or wisteria either but the latter probably benefits some from the feeding the adjacent clematis gets.
As others have said, feed your soil and the soil will feed your plants. The exceptions are the heavy feeders such as roses and clematis which do need extra help if you want them to flower profusely and repeat flower.
Artificial chemical fertilisers are bad for your soil and soil life, long term, so organic things like compost, manure, chicken manure pellets, blood, fish and bone etc., are the better options if you do need to feed.
Pots are different, they need nutrients that are soon available rather than been broken down in the soil first, so an inorganic slow release fertiliser such as miracle-gro granules plus a later boost of tomato feed for heavy flowerers is better there.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I tend to do the following In the Autumn I spread some well rotted manure on the borders In early spring I give the borders a light dressing of Fish Blood and Bone. Seasonal containers have half the compost removed and they are topped up with multi purpose compost before planting up. They then get the occasional feed with tomato/seaweed feed during the growing season. Permanent planting in containers get a top dressing of appropriate compost once a year. That's either Ericaceous for acid lovers or John Innes 2 for everything else. Roses get fed again in June, usually with David Austin rose food. Think that's about it.
I feel like I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this question. I am a beginner with restricted mobility and I am not sure I can really commit to looking after the soil properly with compost / manure etc (I also have a phobia of old rotting food - an actual diagnosed phobia, so making my own compost probably not ideal for me, although I am sure you can buy the stuff, right?).
Having said all that, because I rent, 90& of my plants are in pots. Also my garden has no borders, so literally just large pots and a couple of very large trough-like planters. So I guess if I use fertilsers there and follow manufacturing instructions, would that be enough? I am trying to keep the plants happy and flowering but keep the physical work as light as I can this year....
@alexemmersonuk just use a liquid feed or some pellets then. Get a helpful friend to give you a hand topping up pots/refreshing the soil once a year if it's too much to do on your own. I wouldn't worry though, I'm a bugger for not feeding pot plants, and mine do fine. 😊
Posts
There is a little saying about n, p and k values in fertilisers and that is up, down and all around, basically nitrogen feeds leafy growth, phosphorous can help with roots and potassium all around. It's a simplified version but easy to remember.
I don't wish to be pedantic, but spelling IS important in communication.
"John Innes 1, 2 and 3 which are lam based or Levington's which is houmous based"
A sheep used to be buried under a fruit tree in the old days. Levingtons was peat-based, now peat-free, but never based on chickpeas. But I first read it as "humorous", thank you for giving us a laugh.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Shoots. Roots. &. Fruits
is another way to remember.
As others have said, feed your soil and the soil will feed your plants. The exceptions are the heavy feeders such as roses and clematis which do need extra help if you want them to flower profusely and repeat flower.
Artificial chemical fertilisers are bad for your soil and soil life, long term, so organic things like compost, manure, chicken manure pellets, blood, fish and bone etc., are the better options if you do need to feed.
Pots are different, they need nutrients that are soon available rather than been broken down in the soil first, so an inorganic slow release fertiliser such as miracle-gro granules plus a later boost of tomato feed for heavy flowerers is better there.
I can’t believe your comment about spelling, have you ever read your own posts. Pot, kettle, black comes to mind.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
In the Autumn I spread some well rotted manure on the borders
In early spring I give the borders a light dressing of Fish Blood and Bone.
Seasonal containers have half the compost removed and they are topped up with multi purpose compost before planting up. They then get the occasional feed with tomato/seaweed feed during the growing season.
Permanent planting in containers get a top dressing of appropriate compost once a year. That's either Ericaceous for acid lovers or John Innes 2 for everything else.
Roses get fed again in June, usually with David Austin rose food.
Think that's about it.
I am a beginner with restricted mobility and I am not sure I can really commit to looking after the soil properly with compost / manure etc (I also have a phobia of old rotting food - an actual diagnosed phobia, so making my own compost probably not ideal for me, although I am sure you can buy the stuff, right?).
Having said all that, because I rent, 90& of my plants are in pots. Also my garden has no borders, so literally just large pots and a couple of very large trough-like planters. So I guess if I use fertilsers there and follow manufacturing instructions, would that be enough? I am trying to keep the plants happy and flowering but keep the physical work as light as I can this year....