DesignsandEvents: Helpful Hint Fridays: Fertilizer in the Garden

Hi everyone! I am back with Helpful Hint Fridays. I am on vacation right now, however, so this will be a fairly short installment but, hopefully, one you can use :). Today we are talking about using fertilized soil and using fertilizers in your garden and how important they are.

Using fertilizers can really improve the quality and quantity of your garden. No questions asked!

Since we moved into our new home in the winter the garden containers that I brought with me had to be emptied of their soil. Of course, any new containers I have purchased since the move did not contain soil either. Although it is very expensive to have to fill all new and old containers with new soil, it has been a blessing in disguise. I had been working off of old soil for years, mainly out of laziness. I had only been adding liquid fertilizer and adding a small amount of new soil for the past several years. Over time you really do need to change the soil. This was a good lesson and reminder for me.

For my large containers, we have been using the Miracle Gro version of this kind of soil, one that includes the fertilizer in it. As you can see from the package, it will feed for up to 9 months. I keep an eye on the containers and if they look like they are producing less, I add liquid fertilizer, as well. Not for several weeks, however.

Here are the liquid and powder fertilizers I use:

Miracle Gro is my tried and true for liquid fertilizer. In the beginning of the summer, I try to use it every week to ten days or so. I don't think I usually use the full strength, however.

As you can see from the container, I have had this Schultz Bloom Plus for a long time. It is in powder form. It still works and really does get your plant producing lots of blooms. It is still in production, and you can search for it at Schultz.com

The best example of my containers this year for using pre-fertilized soil is this one. I created it from plants I bought at a local nursery, as well as plants from Home Depot. The plants have grown amazingly well and are flowing over the sides of the container.

Here is another container that I created at the same time. I planted nasturtium seeds in this one because I had run out of plants and thought the container needed more. You can see how large the nasturtiums have gotten. I am hoping they will bloom, as well. Sometimes the fertilizer makes large greens and not so many flowers, especially with nasturtiums because they do not like heavy fertilization. We will see.

The front step containers are doing well also. However, the petunias are in the middle of their blooming cycle, but you can see the size of the plants anyway.

I am loving this trailing verbena~

Here is an example of a hanging planter that was given to me on Mother's Day. I have routinely been giving it Miracle Gro fertilizer. I am sure the nursery started with fertilized soil or was adding some kind of fertilizer all through the growing process. My only problem with this planter is that a mother bird has nested in it. The back of the planter is fairly sparse but what can you do? I can't kick her out!

In contrast, these are the plants that I planted in the ground around my home. I am learning about the soil in my new home, and I think I will be amending it as time goes on, but I am working with what I have right now. I have been fertilizing the plants with Miracle Gro and it is helping but, the pre-fertilized soil definitely has had the best results.

I just planted these flowers below. Hopefully, they will fill out soon and obviously I need to weed. Yikes!

From my experience when creating container gardens using a pre fertilizer mix is absolutely best. If you cannot start with that, make sure you fertilize routinely for the best results you can hope for. Soil in the ground most definitely will be helped with a liquid or powder fertilizer.

Thanks so much for stopping by. My wish is to continue with this Helpful Hint series. If I can do it while on vacation, I would say there is hope for the rest of the summer, but we'll see. Hahaha!!