Its time to feed everything…..Acid Lovers

The days are getting longer, the soil is getting warmer and our gardens are emerging from their Winter slumber.  With only a few short weeks until the first day of Spring, your plants are ready and raring to go, but they’re hungry!  Now is the time to get into the garden and feed everything!

Before you rush off and buy your feeds, you just need to be aware of what types of food are required by what type of plants, this is essential knowledge and will avoid costly mistakes.

Azalea, Camellia, Gardenia, Hydrangea, Rhododendron, Magnolia and Blueberries are a small selection  of plants which are very sensitive to  lime.  Therefore all of these plants will require a specific fertiliser which has been designed to be very low in this particular compound.

Acid-loving plants prefer a soil pH of around 5.5 or slightly lower, enabling this group of plants to absorb the nutrients they require to flourish and grow.

If you’re planning on planting an acid loving plant in your existing garden this season, we would highly recommend testing the soil in the planting area before you proceed.  Here at the Sanctuary Point Garden Centre, we’re happy to test your soil samples for free, we just need a small soil sample from a few spots within the planting area.  Depending on how busy we are, we can generally give you your results on the spot and advise you on how you get your soil to the correct pH.

Seasol can be safely used on acid-loving plants as it wont affect the pH of the soil, however you must remember that Seasol is NOT a fertiliser.  Seasol can be used as health tonic, in conjunction with your  fertiliser and its great for settling root systems after planting.

A lot of people ask us about adding used coffee grounds to garden beds to lower the soil pH, however this isn’t something we would recommend.  Coffee grounds are not acidic and will likely lead to the soil pH being raised instead of lowered.

Our Fertiliser recommendation for acid-lovers is Searles Azalea, Gardenia and Camellia Food, a quick acting, easy to use fertliiser in powder form.

All of the afore mentioned products are available all year round at the Sanctuary Point Garden Centre.