On 20/08/2015 08:23, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Wed, 19 Aug 2015 09:58:19 +0100, Another John
wrote:

My wife tends to be the plants grower, whilst I tend to see to the
structural and tidying side of things (iow, I do all the hard work!).

My wife loves to sow, plant, and watch her plants growing, but she's
hopeless at feeding them once they're "up" and/or established. I worry
about this. So:

(1) Shouldn't we be feeding the garden flowers? These are predominantly
annuals, sown by my wife in her yearly, delighted, absorbed, frenzy of
sowing, tending, overseeing, transplanting, and finally planting out.
We also have many perennials. (We also have roses, but these are
"mine", and I feed them with Toprose at the usual times.)
I occasionally fling Growmore over the soil, but with no real organised
approach.

'Broadcasting' Growmore around, thinly, once or twice a year, is fine.
More than that is probably unnecessary.

(2) And what's the best way to feed indoor plants? We have some that
are years (and years) old, which rarely get repotted, sometimes suffer
drought, and often suffer overwatering. Still, they survive -- the
miracle of plant life :-/ I feel we should feed them mo are those
little sticks that you can get the best way to do this?

Fertiliser sticks are one way to feed them. I sprinkle a _little_
slow-release fertiliser on the surface of the soil every few months.
Watering carries the nutrients down to the roots. Add a little
slow-release fertiliser to the compost when/if you re-pot. Don't
over-do either or you'll burn the roots.

Every year around Autumn I swear I'll get a load of rotted manure, and
distribute it around the borders, and thus not have to worry about
feeding ... unfortunately I've never done this yet.

Lastly, I do make compost, and I do distribute that each year in Autumn
or early Spring, but I always feel that this is thin stuff compared to a
load of farmyard manure.

Thin you might think it, but it improves the soil structure as well as
feeding it. Manure dug in, in the Autumn or Spring, is fine for
vegetable crops where you want a high yield, but not really necessary
for flower borders, especially if you already spread garden compost
and a little Growmore. Grass cuttings spread under shrubs or between
annuals and perennials also feeds the soil and helps suppress weeds.
Soon browns off, and worms take it down; gone after a couple of
months.

And lastly lastly: in case it's of any interest: our garden isn't that
big -- maybe 70' by 30' at the back, and maybe 20' by 12' at the front.

Thanks for any advice!

John


I'm always amazed by the number of plants that appear to need zero
nutrition, notably hollyhocks, which spring up everywhere from a base of
only hardcore and sand