For 4 years I have attempted to grow flowers (African daisies, nasturtiums, poppies, convulvulus, achillea ptarmica, oriental & asian lilies, marigolds, sunflowers and many other easy to grow, no fail varieties of plants in a south facing, full sun garden bed. Last fall we replaced all the soil and thought we would start fresh. Well, the sunflower seeds that I planted 6 weeks ago are only 1" tall, the african daisies & poppies didn't even germinate, the achillea that we transplanted last fall is thin, scraggly and just barely alive, the lilies are trying to flower but are only 6" tall. I have even tried to grow prohibited flowers like Maltese cross and Giant Knapweed with no luck. I've checked the ph and it's neutral. All of these flowers grow well in other areas of my yard. Marigolds stopped growing and died within 3 weeks of being transplanted into this area. I'm totally baffled and hope someone might be able to explain what is going on in this garden.
What's wrong with my flower garden?
So, south-facing full sun. Is it up against the house?
No, it's along the sidewalk so it has no protection against the elements.
How often do you water? This has been an extremely dry season with no significant rain. (The ideal, if such a thing existed, for a lawn would be about an inch per week, just for comparison.)
I usually water twice a week, although I was moistening the top soil daily when trying to germinate the seeds. I find that the top 3 inches of soil dries out very quickly and becomes hydrophobic if I don't water twice weekly.
A couple of years ago I bought a truckload of "Planting Mix" from a local company, I spread it 6" deep over cardboard and newspapers, and planted in it. I catered but nothing was growing. I finally fertilized, and everything grew. It is possible you bought something like this and it does not have enough nutrients. I would try some Miracle Grow if I was you. The garden is lush and wonderful now, both last year and this year I sprinkled around some slow release Osmocote fertilizer.
How did you build this bed? Is there landscape fabric in place?
No I didn't use any landscape fabric. I dug out 10" of soil and literally threw it away and replaced it with soil from Burnco. The same soil is in my raised vegetable garden in the back yard and the vegetables are doing quite well.
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