My garden won't flower

Hi all.

I'm on the steep learning curve to hopefully become a decent gardener. I seem to have hit a fundamental problem though. Hardly anything bothers to flower.

The garden isn't new, I'd understand if it was full of perennials in their first year, but that's not the case. I've been half heartedly looking after it for a few years now, and nearly everything in there is at least a couple of years old.

My Sage bush looks excellent this year, it has practically taken over my entire herb patch, but hardly any flowers. Last year it had a short flowering period, and the year before it was just one big mass of purple spikes right from May until the last flower died in December. This year though, tonnes of nice foliage, but hardly any flowers.

My Lavender is flowering now, but it has just started. It usually produces its first flowers around late May.

Rosemary has never flowered in any of the five years she's been there.

Golden Rod, which flowered well the year before last, and reasonably last year, is just getting ready now on a few stalks. Plenty of big tall green spikes, only a few getting ready to flower.

I wonder if the ground is lacking nutrients, I am cursed with a Laylandii hedge (I didn't plant it) which I understand steals everything from the ground. I keep it at about 4 foot high so light shouldn't be an issue.

In an attempt to rectify it I scattered the entire contents of a 10Kg bucket of chicken manure pellets and it has rained plenty since, but still not much activity.

Any ideas?

Oh, I'm not sure if this is a clue in any way, but the Purple Toadflax that moved in uninvited (but very welcome) is flowering profusely.

 

Clueless, start feeding all your flowering plants with Tomato feed. Do it once a week for the rest of the season. It will not help the plants flower THIS year but will encourage them to flower Next year. The reason being, plants need Potash to help them flower and fruit.:thumb:

 

Thanks for the tip. Interesting you mention fruit, my gooseberry bushes look great, as do my strawberry plants, but no strawberries and hardly any gooseberries. I just though the birds had nicked them all.

I bet that's it you know, because it's only really this year that I've really taken an interest, and I haven't really been feeding the plants. I'll do what you said, cheers.

 

Hi,

I live in the NW and I have issues with things not flowering greatly aswell, and things getting soaked through and blown to bits.


David-Could it be the weather not helping?-I do feed my plants, infact I probably feed them too much really-might it be that? Everything gets big fast and very lush and green. The pics of other peoples gardens look so impressive next to mine, I am sure I am doing something wrong.

 

I used to over feed lolli, I got lovely big bushy strong plants and very few flowers. I only feed once a week on the advice of a friend, and now I get the flowers.:D I find all my bedding plants are slow to flower this year due to, to much rain and not enough sun. you must be getting the same weather as me as we are in the same location. I can't even remember the last day we had without rain can you?:rolleyes::( 02

 

Hi,

Actually you are right there I have vague memory of a day about 2wks ago where it just didn`t rain at all. I am just this side of the pennines on the side of winter hill overlooking the reebok stadium and I think we must be a magnet to the rainclouds. Low light levels generally-and my soil is sodden through-not helpful as I have clay soil and can`t do a thing at the moment, the weeds are having field day and the slugs and snails-they have actually started coming in the house at night. I keep squelching them when I go downstairs for a quick brew. Slug innards between your toes-delightful!!!

 

eeeeeewwww your braver than me Lolli, I can't squish them:eek:. I put slug pellets down now and then, but dont like to over do it. My hostas are copping for it, they are turning them to lace!!!:(.I'm in Stretford so qiute a distance, relatively speaking. I recall that sunny day you mention with fond memories. 02

 

Hi again,

I pellet, salt, drown, chuck in the bin-anything. My garden has a number of old kerbstones and slabs so the blighters have been livin' la vida loca, in the last week I have gone from thinking I am making headway to being convinced there is some revenge plot going on for pelleting them last month.

I can just imagine a couple of them sat under an ivy leaf watching me sprinkling and one saying to the other "look at this joker!"


oh well,

fingers crossed for some sun