Aged pony poop here. I've never bought commercial ferti*lizer. Last year I planted several containers with nasturtiums in miracle grow soil that is supposed to contain plant food. In mid summer when my plants were all foliage without a single bloom I added manure, courtesy of our four hooved beast, and voila! A multitude of orange and yellow flowers continued until the frost. So I no longer trust commercial ferti*lizer or packaged soil that allegedly contains ferti*lizer.

I also use manure from the pony to mulch all my perennials and ornamental tree*s in the fall. Years ago when all 4 of our equines were living, their by-product grew many crops of delicious veggies for us.

I have no idea what I shall do when our last old pony is gone.

Perennials get compost and one dose of granular 5-10-10 in the spring.

Annuals get Miracle Gro every day in containers and once a week in the ground.

Sometimes I use fish emulsion or kelp. To be honest, I usually forget to fertilize.

I'm a firm believer in feeding the soil, not just the plants. I put a layer of compost down every year, and mulch with shredded leaves twice a year.

:)
Dee

If you listen to what's going on here, you'll find out that most of the plants people are losing are being lost because they want less than they are being given. The plants are adapted to dry, infertile conditions, and they are getting too much water and too much nutrition.

Moo Doo it's composted cow manure and non-burning.

I'm with Dee, "a firm believer in feeding the soil, not just the plants."

My beds are made initially with composted manure and then top-dressed as needed to reduce weeds with an organic mulch - compost, chopped leaves, or shredded wood from a tree service or the family woodworking shop. When I first create a bed, I usually underlay the mulch with cardboard or several layers of newspapers to reduce sprouting of weed seeds. In the past we would travel to a nearby suburban neighborhood and pick up other families' bagged leaves in the fall, and many towns have composting programs that can supply inexpensive compost, so you can usually find local cheap (or even free) sources or unobtrusive organic matter to add to gardens even if you don't live in an area with small farms like my town. This organic mulch will break down over time and continue to feed your plants. You can do a search for lasagna gardens if you are like me and don't want to have to do a lot of digging. Occasionally I will top dress the veggie garden with a mixture of greensand, blood meal, and rock phosphate, which will slowly release nutrients over the course of the season, and I mix the same along with some compost into the potting mix I use for my pots of annuals on the patio.

The big problem with Miracle Grow and the like is that it's a bit like relying solely on vitamin pills which won't give you the micronutrients, fiber, etc for good health if the rest of your diet is all soda, chips and burgers. MG has highly soluble major plant nutrients, but not many of the needed micronutrients or organic matter to create a healthy soil and plants. It often mostly ends up washing out of the garden into surface and ground water since it is so highly soluble and the plants may not be able to absorb it quickly enough. (Remember that MG and Scott's are trying to sell a product, not make a healthy garden, so take their fertilizer commercials with a large grain of salt.)

Get a soil test done to see if your soil needs something before fertilizing. Most states will do soil tests that will give you basic info on your soil's acidity (which can prevent plants from taking up nutrients if it is too far into the acid or alkaline end of the scale) and what nutrients you have. They may make suggestions for what's needed to make adjustments. Since we don't know what state you are in, I can't make a specific suggestion on contacts for soil tests, but last I checked, Cornell U did mail-in tests and had clear directions on the website.

Finally, what plants didn't succeed for you? There are lots of reasons a plant might not come back. If a plant liked well-drained soil, in my neck of the woods it would have drowned 4 out of the 5 past summers which were VERY wet. There are some plants that the growers were overly optimistic about cold hardiness, and won't survive where they are supposed to. Poor nursery conditions prior to planting or poor planting style for your specific plants' needs can create survival problems. Some plants are just finicky and are more likely to survive with very experienced gardener and very specific conditions, while some are pretty easy and will grow under a wider range of conditions. With specific plant names and some info on your growing conditions (new construction? shade vs sun? soil sandy, clay or average? wet or dry? etc.) you might get some specific suggestions and solutions as to why plants didn't survive and some alternatives that might succeed.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Some of the plants we bought a couple of years ago seem to do well: Veronica, my Zepherine Douhin rose, one of the peonies, Monarda, lavender, some of the summer phlox. But columbine and coneflowers aren't doing so well, and I've tried some bellflowers that just haven't taken. Unfortunately the bed only gets about 4 hours of direct sun, so it is a challenge.
I think I will have a soil test done and go from there.
Thanks again.

barn squeezings

If you tried some of the newer coneflowers, you have lots of company with them not surviving. (If you visit the perennial forum and type in Echinacea in the search box at the bottom of the thread list, you'll get quite a bit about folks' experience with them.) They also may need more sun as they are prairie plants. Do you remember which type of columbine or bellflower? I grow old-fashioned columbines that seed around gently. I've had double white and the wild type, a red and yellow mix. They are pretty easy to grow from seed, so you might want to get some seed packets and sow them in place to see if you do better. (It's less expensive, as well.) The flowers may not be as big though. Bellflowers (Campanula species) are pretty varied in their needs and plant appearance, though their flowers are similar. I think most like more sun, however.

Some other shade loving or tolerant plants you can look at include astilbe; hosta (foliage and flowers); cimicifuga, AKA Actea or snakeroot, with flowers in late summer plus some varieties with maroon foliage; Solomon's seal, particularly the variegated variety; some clematis, especially if you have bright shade, and most especially the variety 'Silver Moon'; pulmonaria AKA lungwort with spring flowers and silver & green patterned foliage; coral bells AKA Heuchera, some of which are easy and some of which are fussy, but have flowers and colored foliage.

While you wait for the results of your soil test, you might want to lurk for a while on the perennials forum and do searches for plants before you buy to see if others in your area have been successful growing them. You can also visit places with part shade gardens, either garden centers or neighborhoods, and ask if you see plants you like. Most gardeners are more than happy to chat and share what they know. Also, your library may have a copy of 'The Well-Tended Perennial Garden' by Tracy DiSabato-Aust, which is a great resource, along with her other book, 'The Well-Designed Mixed Garden.' They will give you a good intro to design, creation, and tending of perennial and mixed shrub-perennial gardens.

There have been a couple of threads recently (one on a new bed and one on a mailbox planting) that asked for suggestions for part shade, so they may help with ideas. If you ask in a new thread about soil tests in CT, some local gardeners may have suggestions. If you can get soil texture tested (amount of sand, clay, silt, etc) as well as nutrients and organic matter, that may help as well.

It actually sounds like you are doing fine, since you have gotten a rose, peony and lavender to survive, all of which can be a bit fussy as to conditions. They all like a fair amount of light, so you probably have pretty bright shade, so can do part shade into some sun plants and some shade plants. There's some famous gardener who said you haven't really established that you can't grow a plant until you've killed one three times . . . ;>)

I was going to suggest a product for fertilizing until I read what the problem is. I have a lot of part sun/part shade in my yard. Probably 2/3 the property. I would love to grow a lot of sun plants so I do try sun lovers in less sun then they are reported to need. So when a plant doesn't do well, that is the first thing I suspect, is that they don't have enough sun. When I have moved plants into more sun, it has usually worked out that they performed much better.

In the case of coneflowers, they really do need more than 4 hours of sun, but not a lot more. I have mine in 6 hrs and they are doing well. Columbine on the other hand, 4 hours of sun should be enough for them to bloom. I have mine in about that much sun in the morning and then they get shade from maybe 11:30am onward. They are thriving and I never once have fertilized them. They reseed all around the garden. So I'm surprised to hear that they are giving you trouble.

Getting the sun, the water needs, the drainage right for each plant makes a big difference to how they will perform and so that is the second place to start, with the first place, as Babs suggested, a soil test. Especially if a plant that should be growing well is not, then a soil test might tell you something you don't know. You will be much better prepared to give your garden what it needs if you have the valuable information that a soil test will give you. I especially find knowing the PH of the soil very useful in selecting plants that will do well for me.

The product I was going to suggest, should you still need it, is Alfalfa Pellets. I just started trying these last year and was impressed enough with the results to add some around the base of a number of my plants this year. I've been told it is not exactly a fertilizer, but a soil conditioner that has something in it that helps the plant make better use of the nutrients in the soil. I use Fish Emulsion / Seaweed liquid fertilizer mixed into water for my containers. And I feed the soil just as Dee and Babs have already described.

That's interesting, Prairiemoon, alfalfa pellets. That's essentially what is in the packaged feed that our pony eats. Perhaps when she's gone and the supply of her "recycled" alfalfa pellets dries up, I can just mulch my plants with the non-recycled version out of the bag!

I do have a clematis and astible that are doing well actually, and I just picked up a heuchera and some shasta daisies. Unfortunately, the columbine just hasn't grown. I'll try your suggestions.

Thanks.

spedigrees, yes, they sell alfalfa pellets as rabbit food. [g] They suggest them on the Rose Forum for roses, but since it did so well for mine, I thought why not try it with other plants. I asked about it on the forums and someone else said they use it all over their garden and top dress with them. I think it comes in a 'meal' form but I didn't find that.

I have been making a small trench and covering the pellets just because I don't want to attract rabbits. Haven't seen any yet. Some people make alfalfa tea and fertilize that way. I haven't tried that yet.

Oh yeah, I use alfalfa too. I haven't used it in the last year (or maybe even two!), but when I plant roses I put a handful of pellets in the hole, and then scratch some in each year (in theory, lol - didn't get around to it last year or this year). I also made big garbage cans full of alfalfa tea to use. Maybe this year if I get my act together....

:)
Dee

When my daughter was little, throwing alfalfa around was one of her jobs. It's non-toxic, and it didn't really matter all that much exactly where it ended up. Which is good since it ended up all over the place. We also used to take our own to feed the goats at the local PYO place. They had the 'goat food' dispensers, but that was a lot more expensive.

Dee, we filled up half of a 5 gallon bucket and grab it on Saturday morning on the way to the g*arden. I figure you're working anyway, weeding or planting or whatever and if the bucket is right there, you may remember to throw in a few handfuls here and there. How did you make the alfalfa tea and did it smell really bad?

Mad gallica, now that's the way to keep the kiddies busy. [g] I bet she enjoyed doing it. lol We don't go visit anywhere that has goats any more, but I wonder if ducks eat it? [g] Does your daughter like g*ardening now that she's grown up?

PM2, it was just water and alfalfa. I think for the tea I used alfalfa meal, not pellets. Actually, I think the reason I tried in the first place was that when I went to buy my alfalfa for the season, they only had meal, and no pellets, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I don't recall the ratio, but I think I found it either on the rose forum, or I did a google search and found a recipe from a rosarian. I'm thinking something like 4 cups to a five gallon bucket, so I did 16 cups to a garbage can. Like I mentioned, I made a big batch in a 35-gallon trash can, and left about six to eight inches of space on top to be able to stir (always thought of the witches in MacBeth when I stirred...) so I figured it was about 20 to 25 gallons. Also, some recipes added fish emulsion, I think it was, but I decided that might be too much for the nose.

And yes, it smelled! Even with just the alfalfa and water. It was.... bad, but not horrible. Can't really describe it (or maybe I've just blocked it out of my memory, lol). It was strong, but it didn't make you heave or anything like that. The worst thing was that it stayed on your hands for a few days. But it wasn't so bad that I didn't make it again!

:)
Dee

Dee, I hesitate to make the tea because I don't have enough distance from my neighbors. I try to be very careful that my organic techniques don't cause complaints. [g] Smells especially. I think my DH might balk at that too. I think I will have to stick to adding it to the ground. No smell, same result I imagine. But thanks for letting me know what to expect. I think you have more distance from you neighbors, yes?

OK, I've been looking for alfalfa in the garden centers and I guess now I know why they didn't have it - I'll try a farm supply place instead.

One question, though... If you sprinkle the pellets around, might they attract rodents? I live in town and so I try to be careful about that kind of thing, especially since there are no more feral cats in the neighborhood. Thanks for any insights!

dtd, I don't sprinkle them, I bury them in a ring around plants. So far I have not seen that it is attracting anything, and once you water a few times, they swell up and then disintegrate into the soil. I would feel a little uneasy just topdressing with them, but I heard a mastergardener say she did with no problem.

When I have pellets, I usually bury them in rings around the plants also - when planting. If the plant is already in the garden, I do the ring thing and try to scratch it in well. With the meal it's a bit easier to scratch it in - although, I'm sure, no less attractive to critters. That being said, I don't think I've ever had a problem with alfalfa attracting animals. (Lots more trouble with fish emulsion and skunks - oy! Now those things can do some serious damage to a bed!)

Yes, PM2, I probably do have a bit more distance from my neighbors. I don't worry too much about that though. I figure one house has loud, obnoxious, obscene kids (and parents, lol - and dogs, now that I think of it!), another has a rooster that crows constantly, the other neighbor is always running some machine or other, and my newly-retired neighbor on the other side has not only joined the machine brigade, but loves to run them early in the morning. My alfalfa tea is my contribution to the neighborhood dysfunction, lol!

But seriously, I don't think the smell is THAT bad that I would worry. Especially for the day or two that it smells. My neighbor using vinegar to kill off a quarter acre of poison ivy, or any neighbor getting their septic cleaned, makes a lot worse smell than alfalfa tea, lol!

:)
Dee

Dee, you're too funny....lol. What a description of your neighborhood. You have made me take a second look at my own neighbors and realize I don't have it so bad. [g] The worse we've had lately was a gas leak in the neighborhood that they spent half the day jackhammering, and that was out of the control of the neighbors.

Actually, that tea doesn't sound so bad if it just smells for a couple of days and I suppose I could put a cover on it too. I did have one neighbor ask me to move a couple of bags of fall leaves that were stored near his lot line. He thought they had an odor. They just smelled like fall leaves!

Alfalfa pellets packaged for animal feed are fortified with additional vitamins and minerals which are almost certainly as good for plants as for animals. Without doing a comparison, I think it might be cheaper to buy a 50 lb bag of pelleted horse feed than rabbit feed (which I assume comes in smaller bags for more money.)

I haven't noticed that the pellets draw rabbits or other rodents, and that sort of surprises me. Our old pony drops a lot of feed due to her 34 yr old teeth despite dental care by the vet, so there are free pickings in the barn for rodents but no takers.