Feeding border plants / shrubs / flowers

aj9648

Hi

Quick question - how and when do you feed your border plants and shrubs ? ( like you feed your lawn)

Also best time to feed?

Farway

Personally i don't fed them at all, except the roses in Spring

Shrubs can look after themselves and find their own nutrients

I do however chuck old compost, tea leaves or whatever on the borders when it's around

I suppose if you have some choice specimen or growing for show feeding could help

The only reason to feed lawns is because you are constantly removing growth, this does not normally apply to borders

sheramber

Depends on what you are feeding them with.

Some fertiliser are used once in the spring , others in the autumn, others used more often. Read the instructions on the packet.

Davesnave

Quick answer: never.


I improve the soil, but I don't think that well-rotted horse poo and bedding contains many nutrients.

madjackslam

Borders get a mulch with however much compost I've managed to make/scrounge, and not used on the veggies, but otherwise that's it.

tori.k

I have last couple of years with blood, fish and bone, Roses are feed twice a year spring and Autumn, As I did a hard cut back so fed them them and recently again as I had mulched with bark last Autumn .
The front is all new planting so will feed them at least for the first few years until properly established.

Grenage

Never; the best the borders get is a bit of wood ash from the fire in winter. That said, I'm not very neat; I dump leaves and other waste under plants and let nature sort it all out.

surfsister

all year I collect t bags up and split around plants. Also collect coffee grounds from Waitrsoe and do he same. Also make compost and put round plants in spring and autumn. works for me.

Also take friend's used grow bags and do the same.which

!
local council sells cheap compost they make and once a year it's a pound bag so I stock up

In summer pour used washing up water on new plants

Davesnave

surfsister wrote: »

all year I collect t bags up and split around plants.

Perhaps you have posh tea. So do I, but the bags are still plasticised, so wherever I might put them, they would still be kicking around five years later.

The vast majority of tea bags do not compost. Maybe that will change, but it was only last week I saw a company proudly showing their manufacturing process on prime time telly, including the bit where they plasticise the natural product.

Farway

surfsister wrote: »

local council sells cheap compost they make and once a year it's a pound bag so I stock up

You're lucky, round here the council compost is more expensive than buying from a s/market. The Council stuff is £3 a bag last time I looked

DigForVictory

I shamble round with a bag of chicken pellets after the first massive weeding of spring in the hope this will give the remaining plants encouragement.

I make time to ensure the fruit trees get something to help, even if it's just a growbag I didn't use for seeds.