On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 15:04:32 +0000 (UTC), Lorna wrote:

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but everything in my (walled, London)
garden flowers really early - even stuff that's supposed to be September
flowering is finishing about now. After mid-June, the only things that
really thrive are the great big thugs (a gigantic wisteria, a renegade hop
that covers everything when my back is turned) - so I buy in colour during
the summer just to cheer it up, with the result that it looks like an
inferior car boot sale. Perennials flower beautifully in years one and two,
then just produce masses of foliage in year three, giving up altogether in
year four. Depressing and expensive.

Do you fertilize your garden? The last two years, I've given my
own garden a general fertilizer around the beginning of
September. I use granular 13-16-10 because it's cheap and it's
sulfate based, at a rate of about one ounce per square yard.
Everything gets it, flower beds, lawn, trees and shrubs.

The results have been remarkable, and have convinced me that many
gardens -- perhaps most -- have grossly impoverished soil due to
many years of taking a heavy crop of growth off the land. Yes,
our flowers are a "heavy crop".

[In coastal BC, there is also serious leaching of soil nutrients
due to heavy winter rainfalls.]

You might do well to follow my example; the particular choice of
fertilizer is not critical nor is the exact amount you apply.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada