How do you choose feed?

DrDolittle_2

Someone I know uses tomato feed on everything. What do you use for your garden shrubs and flowers?

While I'm here, I've recently transplanted a peony from my mother's garden. In the five years it was there, it neverr produced many flowers and now I can see only one bud forming. What can I do to make it produce more buds in future? It was previously in a south facing herbaceous border in acid loving soil.

absfabs

Peonies take a long time to establish. So 1 bud after recent transplant is okay really. Mine is in partial shade, but have seen them doing well in full sun. Just be patient.

I'm afraid I chose feed by price most of the time. Digging in growmore or the free stuff from local sewage works - yes really, it's sterilised, pelleted and organic, got it at "open doors" event - before planting.

Tomato feed is great for most flowering/fruiting plants, as it encourages flower and fruit formation. If you want leaf growth, you need something rich in nitrates. My current bottles of liquid feed came either from Lidl or Aldi, can't remember, 1 green and nitraty, 1 red for toms/strawberries/clematis and anything else flowering.

Probably need something different for ericaecous/acid loving plants, have got some rhododendron/azalea fertiliser I use on heathers and blueberries.

My peony gets a dose of the pellets early in the growing season, took about 4 years till we got lots of flowers.

alanobrien

I use chicken pellets as a staple, its a balanced feed and its virtually impossible to overfeed with it. Wilkos is the cheapest i have found for it. I also buy miracle grow at the end of the season (for use the following season) in places like B&Q etc when they practically give it away.