By Scottish
Edinburgh,
Scotland 
Plant food and fertilisers?
I have Fish, Blood and Bone, Tomorite Liquid Tomato Feed and Toprose. All bought this year to use when I was planting out my garden. I have been using Miracle Grow on my herbaceous perennials and an appropriate feed on my rhoddies. Are there any other uses for
the 3 I have listed above? It seems such a waste to have them sitting there going to waste. If not, what is the shelf life of these products? I do not grow veg and the only fruit I have is an young apple tree.
In particular are any of these useful for flowering shrubs eg Hydrangea, Philadelphus, Physocarpus, Continus, Sambucas, Weigela or Deutzia. I also have quite a few clematis and honeysuckle.
I look forward to hearing your advice guys.
Angie x
7 Jun, 2011
Answers
sometimes people say 'miracle grow' when they mean 'growmore' ?? I only use miracle grow in hanging baskets and small tubs for annuals, where it does make a vast difference. In the U.S. they seem to put Tomorite around clematis and honeysuckle, which would seem to work, also Toprose on these plants [not BOTH].All these products should keep if stored in a dry place [sadly we discovered our workshop was not dry this Winter!]
8 Jun, 2011
Thanks to both of you for your advice. Will keep them in a cool dry place til next year.
Should I give peonies a feed after flowering?
The Miracle Gro is an 'all purpose' and I wanted to give my plants a good start, the vast majority of them are new this year.
8 Jun, 2011
You can if you want to, Scottish, but if you're keeping the soil in good condition, it's not really necessary.
9 Jun, 2011
I like to think that I am keeping it in good condition. Most of my peonies haven't flowered yet. Most of them have buds ready to burst open. I was surprised they flowered as some of them were from 'bits' taken from my brother's new garden last year. I must be doing something right.
As usual, thanks for the great advice Bamboo.
9 Jun, 2011
You must be - paeonies don't like root disturbance, so you're lucky those 'bits' aren't sulking, lol!
9 Jun, 2011
Toprose, as you probably realise, is appropriate for roses. Tomato food is only suitable for fruiting plants like tomatoes, and can be used half strength on summer annual bedding if you like. The most useful one is Fish Blood and Bone - this can be used on all the shrubs you mention, but shrubs growing in the ground don't really need much if you keep the soil in good condition - an annual top dressing with it, raked or forked in lightly, in about April is sufficent for most, although you can repeat if you wish 6 weeks later. Do not feed any of your shrubs and perennials after end of June/mid July - this may encourage new growth which will not have time to harden off before winter sets in.
Re the Miracle Gro, hopefully its general purpose, but its not essential to feed your perennials with it. All the products you mention should be okay for 2/3 years.
8 Jun, 2011