Fertilizers and Annuals
Your annual plants are those that will live this year and will die off at the end of their flowering periods. Annual plants are placed in the gardens where you want to make your garden look ‘fuller.’ When you are planting annuals in the garden, you can save seeds from these plants to grow new plants for the following growing seasons.

Posted Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Some of the most popular annual plants that will add color to your garden are the Snap dragon, Wax begonia, Daisies, Marigolds, Asters, Celosia, Cornflower, Sweet Williams, Wall flowers, Blanket flowers, Treasure Flowers, Candytuft, Balsam, Monkey Flower, Four-o-clocks, Forget-me-nots, Poppies, and so many more.

When you are planting annuals in your gardens you can make them last a little longer by giving them a little pick me with fertilizer. Bedding and flowering annuals will last all summer long if you add a little fertilizer to the soil every two to three weeks.

If you purchased your annuals in the store or if you grew them in the greenhouse yourself, fertilizers were added to the soil to make the annuals grow strong and healthy. After planting annuals in the garden, the fertilizers that were used are mostly devoid of nutrients by the second month post planting. This is when you will notice your plants looking a little droopy. Fertilizer is needed to keep them growing strong.

Because you will be in the midst of summer heat by the second month after planting, you will have to be careful about how you add your fertilizer and when. You won’t want to do anything with your plants during the middle of the day, as this is when they will easily ‘burn off’ due to moisture in liquid fertilizers.

When the summer months are starting to become dry and hot, you can still add granular type fertilizers in small portions. You will only need a small handful, very small for each square foot of your garden. A teaspoon to a tablespoon of fertilizer put over your gardens to add nutrients for your annuals is beneficial. A mixture of 5-10-5 or a 10-10-10 would be just fine for most annual gardens.

If you are going to be using a liquid fertilizer on your annual gardens, you only need to follow the directions on the manufactures label. You will want to add your fertilizer late in the day when the sun is setting so the liquid can soak into the soil and reach the roots during the cool portions of the night. Liquid fertilizers will only need to be added every three to four weeks, depending on the soil you have and the amount of plants you have growing.