Fertilizer

Don't forget to fertilize once you plant those beautiful plants. Plants need to be fertilized because most soil simply doesn't provide the nutrients required for optimum growth. Even if you are lucky enough to have great garden soil, your plants absorb nutrients as they grow and leave the soil less fertile. By fertilizing, you ensure that your plants have the proper nutrients to flourish, day in and day out. This is even more important when planting containers.

Fertilizer comes as a powder that you add to water or in granular form. Measure accurately or you could burn the roots and foliage. We recommend that you apply the granular fertilizer right after planting then after a month or so, fertilize with water soluble and continue this every week to every other week throughout the season for excellent looking plants. Or you can reapply the granular fertilizer half way through the summer. Adding compost to gardens and beds is also a great way to add the much needed nutrients to your soil. Feeding your plants regularly gives you great -looking, strong plants that will last all season and produce beautifully. I am told that abundant and rank weeds are signs of a rich soil,

but I have noticed that a thin poor soil grows little but weeds.

Charles Dudley Warner

My summer in a Garden, 1871