When I remove the bulbs from pots in spring I tip the growing medium into a barrow, add a few handfuls of Vitax Q4 professional and mix it up. For ericaceous plants, Vitax recommend their Azalea and Rhododendron, or Conifer and Shrub fertilisers. Some products may be delivered straight to your door from one of our suppliers and these products will be labelled within the product description. Originally developed for the commercial grower, Q4 Fertiliser is the trusted choice for producing bigger, brighter blooms and bumper crops.

They create an artificial growing environment that is difficult and expensive to maintain, if you don't the plants will suffer. The peat is medium age, light brown colour, and provides excellent aeration and water holding capacity. I wouldn't recommend fish, blood and bone - its highly attractive to animals such as foxes, cats,dogs and rats, and they'll be rootlling around to eat it, so its best used in planting holes, below ground. However, if Richierich wants to feed specific plants, and he/she does, then the answer is as Bamboo has given. Started from scratch fifteen years ago, the garden is naturalistic in style, with an extensive wildflower meadow and informal planting.Organic fertilisers, derived from something that was once living release nutrients slowly, but the nutrient content is usually low and can be variable. A few inches of good organic compost is much better then those "even number" fertilizers which are only salts and kill the microbes in the soil that plants rely on. Often those synthetic fertilizers will cause an unnatural growth spurt (like taking hormones) but will flop over because of undeveloped root system.

Jimmytheone - I do it annually because I'm doing other people's gardens, but sometimes I don't, and that decision is made based on whether the client was prepared to stump up for the cost of the topdressing of composted manure or whatever from the garden centre the previous year (they often aren't) and also how wet the winter's been. If you have acid loving plants (rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolia, camelia) add some pine needles to the mix or plant a conifer nearby and look to the woodlands for answers.Plants that grow in overly fertilized soil are deficient in iron, zinc, carotene, vitamin C, copper and protein. Nitrogen- and phosphate-based synthetic fertilizers leach into groundwater and increase its toxicity, causing water pollution. But I wonder if the average gardener can tell the difference between a plant that looks fine and one that looks something slightly better, then do we need to feed for feeding's sake? A good layer of organic compost will supply your plants with everything your plants need to grow strong and healthy. He has designed and advised on gardens of all sizes and was responsible for the Hillier Gold Medal winning exhibit at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower for 25 years.

The instructions on Growmore and Vitax Q4, for example, say feed in early March then again 6-8 weeks later but you say this may result in a toxic build up. You are reminded of the following legal requirements relating to the purchase and use of professional pesticides. Light sandy soils, shallow chalk soils and stony, gravelly soils that drain freely lose nutrients faster than soils like clay which are made up of fine particles. Synthetic fertilizers, unlike their organic counterparts, immediately supply essential nutrients to soil. Organic fertilizers are naturally occurring substances and include biofertilizers, green manure, organic manure and compost.Repeated applications may result in a toxic buildup of chemicals such as arsenic, cadmium, and uranium in the soil. After this period it is recommended that Vitafeed fertilisers are applied for supplementary feeding. So what if you want to supply readily available nutrients to your plants to get them going and give them a real boost? For roses Vitax Q4 should be mixed with the soil prior to planting and then used as an annual dressing every Spring.