Why am I so useless with plants

Hi everyone

I have such enthusiasm for gardening but it seems to me that gardening doesn't like me. More often than not every time I go near a plant it seems to go downhill or die. Is it me? or is it my garden? As mentioned in other threads my garden soil is awful, full of clay and coal. My husband says that the drainage is not too bad.

I have a beautiful plant in a pot (not sure of the name) my husband was doing work in the garden and I moved it out of his way. Some of the compost spilt out of the pot, I put more compost in and now the leaves are going yellow and the beautiful pink flowers are going a lot lighter. I am such a novice and I have no idea why this is happening. The more I try to look after my plants the worse they seem to get.

Should I just give up?

Jules

 

Never give up ! Get yourself a good plain starter book on gardening and put aside a few moments to read "and inwardly digest".

Here are two that I can recommend, both by Geoff Hamilton.

(1) Successful Organic Gardening, I.S.B.N. 0-86318-200-3.

(2) Gardener's World Practical Gardening Course, I.S.B.N. 1-85613-365-6.

These will not only help you to grasp where you may be going wrong, but put you on the right track. Both books were produced before gardening became 'trendy' and are packed with good level headed common sense. Have fun. Cheers, Tony.

 

Thank you Tony. I just get disheartened. I think perhaps I just need to leave my plants. The more I tend to them the worse they seem to do. Have you any idea why the leaves on my planta are going yellow and the pink flowers are fading. I'm sorry I do not know the name of he plant.

My garden doesn't help me its full of rubbish soil and pests. How lovely it must be to have a garden where you can just crack on and plant and not have every insect under the sun eating them!

I will look into purchasing those books and thank you for your help.

Jules

 

When you find the perfect garden as you describe, let me know. I've never been near one either. !

Cheers, Tony.

 

Jules don't despair.
Some good ideas from others for you to pursue.
When I started out I bought a few of the Dr Hessayon series as my basic guides. Never bought anything since and still use them. Simply presented, easy to understand plain English, and to the point. Still available in many bookshops, ebay etc. and inexpensive.

Good luck and most of all enjoy your gardening!

 

Coal? Presumably the very same coal that is strongly acidic? Usually full of sulphuric acid.

If I was to take a wild guess, I'd say Rhodedendrons, Camelias, Azalias, Roses, Heathers, some soft fruit and an assortment of other things will thrive there.

I think I'd get a cheap soil pH tester and check it. If I was a betting man, I'd bet 50p that your coal filled soil will be around pH 5, acid enough to kill many plants dead. If I'm right then you can consider yourself lucky enough to be able to grow some of the most stunningly beautiful ericaceous plants that I can't grow, or you can lime it to raise the pH. If you test it and find I'm wrong, then at least you'll know.

 

Jules some good advice has been given. If you post a picture of the plant on here we can identify it for you and tell you what the problem is. At a guess I'd say it's an Azalea, but the picture would help.

I don't think the plant's problems are from you upsetting the pot. If it is an Azalea the flowers will probably be starting to die back now anyway.

 

You just need some help and advice I reckon, we all had to start from scratch at some time (in my case in the dim and distant past ...). In the old days you'd have had to find some knowledgeable people locally - down the pub, or up on the allotment probably. Now you can use the internet and be in touch with knowledgeable people in an instant! and probably reach people with more specialist knowledge than your local allotment (well ... your local allotment would be full of - conflicting! - advice on how to grow the Longest Bean, the Biggest Pumpkin, the Tallest Sunflower .... !!)

So ask away and post a photo if you can

 

I agree that pics would be a good idea so we can give advice on the particular plant.

You say you 'tend' your plants regularly, can you clarify what you mean? Do you water/feed, etc them? You can give them too much tlc - some plants just like to be left alone to get on with their business with an occasional feed.

Don't give up whatever you do Even if your soil is poor, you can improve the soil and/or grow lots of stuff in containers.

Whenever I plant anything new I Google for all the information I need on how/where to plant and how to care for it. The internet is invaluable in that respect

 

Hi Jules
books as suggested are not new and as such are often found in Charity shops for 50p - £1.00 or so.
If you take a picture of a problematic plant, or a patch of your garden with a description, I am sure someone here will offer some helpful advice to help you.
Be patient and start to enjoy whatever small bit of plant care you try. Things can only get better

 

I can see that you are frustrated with things, if you realy want to grow plants you will have to tend them as you would a baby, I mean, if you water them and feed them regularly they will flourish, if you let them dry out and then flood them they will become stressed and deteriorate. It is a labour of love and needs commitement.