Plants not taking to surrounding soil
chicken chaser
Posts: 147
Over the spring I've planted a variety of new plants. In one particular area, a number of Hostas, Heucheras, a mature Acer, ferns and grasses. The Heucheras seem to have taken as have some of the hosta however some just haven't grown beyond the soil they were planted in. I had some tulips in there which were exactly the same and the ferns haven't taken either. This is in contrast with other areas of the garden where the same plants have taken well.
This particular bed had a lot of organic matter added to it over the winter. Some heavy clay was removed and a lot of compost and manure was addednto help break it down. It had previously been under patio so hadn't been grown into for a while. The top layer appears to be quite fibrous rather than soil like and I'm now wondering if its too dry and not holding the nutrients required.
The soil has had a good bit of blood fish and bone added to it also.
Posts
It could be that the patio layer scattered some chemicals such as sodium chlorate onto the soil in order to kill off any perennial weeds before laying the patio. . Such chemicals were cheap and easily available in the past and don't break down over time.
If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
Did you put manure and FB&B on the rest of the garden.
You could have over fed it.
which way does the bed face as ferns & some hostas & grasses prefer shade.
The plants have shade and sun depending on where the are in the bed, and they've been planted accordingly.
Can you have an overly fertile soil? The Jester Phormium which has been planted is by contrast healthy with fresh growth.
i'd give them a bit of time,
in the same way seedlings can suffer if you pot them up too quickly or into too big a pot then plants you put in the garden can do the same sulking, give them time to adjust to their new surroundings,
if it was sodium chlorate they would have shown signs of dying not signs of not growing.
Could it be that the soil is too acidic? Now concerned that too much bagged compost and manure might mean acidic conditions for the plants