Question about continual blooming
mrslinden
3 years ago
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Question about fertilizer and blooms
Comments (17)Jilly, "soilless medium " is commercially packaged potting mix. These are usually peat based and include such amendments as perlite and vermiculite. My soilless medium of choice is bark based, with peat and perlite added. It's called "soilless " because this type of mix does not contain the sand, silt or clay which are components of (outdoor) soil. Soilless media, as a rule, maintain their porous structure for a long period of time. Porosity is the most important characteristic of a successful potting mix. 'Dead' refers, I presume, to the fact that these mixes are not teeming with the microorganisms found in an outdoor soil.....essential for a healthy soil system IN THE GROUND but wholly unnecessary in a potting medium. We don't need microorganisms in a potting mix to convert nitrogen. Period! Your soluble fertilizer of choice is ready to go. Stick with a fertilizer that you are comfortable with or already have. It should be one formulated for container plants....and does not matter what kind (usually) . The link provided by bugbite is for field grown marigolds. That has nothing to do with container culture.....nothing. You can use an 'all purpose ' fertilizer....same kind as for your other plants. The comparison between in-ground and container growing just does not work, for many reasons. For your ease of mind....the need for a high Potassium (middle number) number is largely a figment of the fertilizer companies. Just avoid too much nitrogen, which will promote an excess of vegetative growth at the sacrifice of flower production. Ken...I apologize to you for my earlier comment. I was wrong. For some reason, I focused in on the slow release comments (I like SRFs) and not the rest of your excellent advice. Conservative but regular applications of a soluble product is my usual routine, too. I hope you'll forgive me. This post was edited by rhizo_1 on Mon, Jun 24, 13 at 6:18...See MoreBlooms are continuing...first ever bloom on a new one
Comments (15)I really appreciate you all looking and commenting on the garden. Kathi, it is easy to have a lot of iris bloom at the same time...have 2 or 3 hundred of them like the idiot in Alabama, and there are always a number of them blooming. I get embarrassed at the excess and quit posting them after a while. Cyn424, Actually, Julia Child blooms pretty well for me and she in in total shade due to New Dawn overgrowing her.Worth a try. Most of my roses get morning sun but afternoon shade...a good thing here in the heat. Mantis, what iris would you like to see close up? Midnight Blue does well for Rita in Long Island, and it is doing very well here, so with your skills it should be a winner for you. The color is pretty unique. the only one I have close to it is Cardinal Richelieu...and it's a once bloomer. Sandi, I am sorry the frost got your iris...like I told cyn424, buy a lot of iris, then you have blooms...awful answer, I know it. sorry. I'm glad you enjoyed the blooms and hope you get re-bloom on yours. Rena, the iris make clumps fast, then you have to divide. aargh! It was a spring to treasure though, it really was. Girlgroupgirl. Thank you, I got it as a band from Heirloom, and it was a teeny thing. It has a nice fragrance too. A year older, good rains, cool spring, and Mills Magic Mix have meant unprecedented bloom for me. I could hardly contain myself. Your garden is lovely, so I know you have had a wonderful spring too. kay...See MoreIris bloomed Oct. - Nov. in Missouri Question about Pods
Comments (6)Here's an old post about seed treatment from Walter Moores, a hybridizer in Mississippi. Leave seed pod on stalk in sun to dry and partially split open . . .another month or two depending on where you live. Harvest pod and shell seeds into paper cup indoors. Let dry, stirring occasionally. Place seed in pill bottle. Place in freezer. In late October or early November, depending on where you live, plant seeds in a pot with a mixture of about 2/3 potting soil and the rest your own garden soil. Sink pot into the ground with its edge about 1/2 inch exposed. Water during dry spells. Germination comes in early spring. Line out seedlings in mid to late May (later in colder climates). Two years from seed, you'll enjoy bloom in most cases. Several Dykes Medal winners have come from unknown pods, STEPPING OUT, DUSKY CHALLENGER, and DEBBY RAIRDON to name a few....See Morewhere are you on "continuous bloom" gardens?
Comments (73)Down time, a most appropriate name for my garden. It's in this mode for most of the year. May and June are the months when my garden looks it's best and then it slows down to a tangled mess for the rest of the summer, I'm not even going to mention fall. This summer was disastrous, I was laid up for most of the summer so nothing got done except for some watering which dh did for me. Some things got missed so whether they come back or not time will tell. Anyone tell me where I can find a new pair of legs? What Camp said sounded so familiar..."I am altogether harsh on myself about my garden. I am my own worst enemy though, because just when it starts to look OK, I get bored and need a change...so everything is always in a state of halfway done, chaos or wreckage. Like Flora, the dominant colour is always green but this garden obsessive (and, I am ashamed to say, greedy and demanding plant crazed mentalist)".... these words could have come out of my mouth up until now. I've never done much out front other than try to keep it looking tidy, when I did plant interesting things out there they seemed to disappear in the middle of the night or when we were out. We even came home one fall day to find someone had cut most of the hydrangea blooms off the one at the bottom of the steps. Needless to say without the protection of those dried blooms over winter, it didn't flower the next year. My bad, but the air was blue for awhile. We had to put a new water line into the house last fall so that hydrangea had to go but I managed to keep a couple of pieces and planted elsewhere. So, what to do with the little border that was dug up for the water line. I planted the Alma Potschke asters Sunny sent me, pinched twice they grew into beautiful plants just starting to bloom now. Even with the pinching they grew quite tall and the bamboo and wire stakes I ended up using were not strong enough so they needed some additional staking to keep them upright. Next year they will definitely be staked with the rebar and wire stakes I usually use. These asters have brought the honey bees that have been absent from my garden all year. I'm having to seriously rethink my garden over the winter, I will always have a garden but I'm afraid the time has come where it's going to have to be a garden where it can be left to it's own devices, so more shrubs and mulch in some of the areas where I have had perennials. The top garden I'll keep for perennials like phlox and some of the others I love but the rest has to become low maintenance. It's this or no garden at all :(. Annette...See Moremrslinden
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