Shazzy’s Bloomers (Miracle Gro)

Member Name: Shazzy

Product:	Miracle Gro
Date:	20/08/02 (3548 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You get more garden with less effort

Disadvantages: You have to fork out 3 quid

When a friend visited during early summer, she couldn’t stop taking photos of my flourishing garden. It’s full of lush greenery, with some plants reaching heights of 6 foot or more. One particular species has done so well that the garden was ablaze with its smiling yellow faces peering up from both shady and sunny spots. Butterflies are kept happy too, thanks to the hardy perennials that grow at the very end of the garden, in the woodland area. The fact that these plants are commonly known as thistles, dandelions and nettles doesn’t matter does it?

The truth is, my garden (sorry, that should be ‘our’ garden now) is a 40 x 15 foot plot of clay that’s a soggy mass in wet weather, dramatically changing into a rock-hard, cracked, impenetrable surface during hot spells. Apart from the Field Maple in the corner, nothing desirable grows there.

It’s going to take a lot of work to make a proper garden of it, and as much as I dream of thriving shrubs and water features, it won’t be happening this year. What we do have are pots and hanging baskets, and very nice they are too. They make the front of the house appear welcoming and add a fanfare of colourful decoration to the patio at the back.

Every year, for as long as I can remember, I’ve had pots and baskets. I’ve no doubt potted up several hundred of them during my time, but never have they shown such a lush abundance of healthy foliage and flowers as they have this year. The baskets appear to be double their original size and some pots are no longer visible under the profusion of blooms.

How did this happen? Because I was envious! I saw a friend’s pots and baskets thriving on her balcony and wanted mine to look like hers. Her secret was Miracle-Gro, and I had to have some. She told me that she’d used slow-release plant food, the sort that you push into the soil when potting up and feeds them for 6 months without ever
again having to remember to fertilise. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find any so bought Miracle-Gro All Purpose Plant Food instead. It’s fast acting and feeds plants through roots and leaves (that’s the blurb on the box).

As it turned out, my friend had got it wrong. She hadn’t used Miracle-Gro at all. She’d used Phostrogen! She found some of the slow release wotsits lying in a drawer and, probably feeling rather guilty about misguiding me, offered them to me. Never having been one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I took them and decided to do a consumer experiment. I’d use Miracle-Gro in one of the front baskets and Phostrogen in the other. Being as they were both planted identically, I figured I’d soon see which of the two is the better product.

I stuck the required amount of Phostrogen slow release thingymijigs into one basket, and religiously fed the other with Miracle-Gro every fortnight, as per instructions on the box. Within the first couple of weeks I could already see results. The Miracle-Gro basket had gained momentum and was streets ahead of its counterpart. The foliage was looking stronger and the plants were producing far more buds. Within the next couple of weeks, further differences could be detected. The baskets had bloomed, with the Miracle-Gro basket having far more and bigger blooms. In fact, by this time, I was starting to dislike the lack of uniformity between the two. The idea had been to have matching baskets either side of the front window and, with one being more abundant than the other, the design was starting to look decidedly lopsided.

At this point I decided to ditch the experiment and start feeding both with Miracle-Gro and basket No.2 eventually started to catch up with its neighbour. Now, 2 months later, they are almost equal. The original Miracle-Gro basket still looks the better of the two. This is especially noticeable on the fuchsias; those on the second bask
et have fewer and slightly smaller flowers. Whether this is just one of those chance things rather than directly related to having started them off with Phostrogen and then switching to Miracle-Gro at a later point is difficult to say. However, that first month definitely showed that Miracle-Gro is the better performer of the two.

I also use this product on potted shrubs and perennials as well as annuals, and all but the Hydrangea, which isn’t blooming, seem to be thriving. Maybe the Hydrangea doesn’t like it. The parsley isn’t particularly happy either, but I’ve a feeling that lack of sunshine is the probable cause, rather than it not liking Miracle-Gro.

According to The Scotts Company who manufacturer Miracle-Gro, the All Purpose Plant Food can also be used on Roses, Tomatoes, Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Lawns and Berries, as well as shrubs, bedding and container plants. How often and with how much they should be fed varies depending on the type of plant, but once every 14 days with 2 large scoops (found inside the box) added to 10 litres of water is adequate for bedding and container plants. The solution is then added liberally to the soil in the usual manner of watering.

As with any liquid fertiliser, Miracle-Gro should only be added to damp soil. If you look after your baskets and pots you’ll have tried to ensure that they don’t dry out anyway, but you know what it’s like, you go away for a couple of days, cross your fingers and return to plants that are looking somewhat under the weather. Don’t be tempted to rush out and fertilise them, even if today’s the scheduled feeding day. Evidently this causes too much of a shock to the plants. Just as you wouldn’t show your neighbour your home-made kinky movies, don’t go shocking your plants either! (Hold on… what’s that….you would show your neighbours…..oh dear, some people!)

According to the
box, to foliar feed your plants (that’s feeding them through their leaves), use a fine rose with a watering can and apply a light coat of dilute solution to the upper surface of leaves. I tried this and the plants ended up looking rather worse for wear. The “fine” spray from the rose had still been enough to knock down delicate flower heads and leave foliage hanging sadly on the compost. Not good! A fine spray bottle is much better and is what I’ve used since that first effort with the watering can. I used to spray mine once a week, but then my bottle broke and I haven’t done it for about a month. I can see a noticeable difference to the plants though, so I really must get myself a new one. PoundShop here I come!

Mr O (you may know him as The Operator), who also shares the garden these days, tells me that you can buy some gadget that you put on the end of your hosepipe that sort of dispenses it. In other words, an applicator. Actually, it’s called a Miracle-Gro Feeder and dispenses the feed in controlled quantities. My expert partner tells me that you put the powder in the reservoir, switch the hose on and it sort of sprays it out and away you go. He also informs me that the most important part of this procedure is after the actual spraying has been completed. You then sit down, open a bottle of beer, and watch. What exactly you’re supposed to watch is unknown to me, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to answer any queries.

Miracle-Gro has been on the market since 1951, after Otto Scott, the company’s founder, received complaints from his nursery customers who said that plants weren’t flourishing as well for them as they did in the nursery. His partner, Horace Hagedorn, had been using a secret mixture of nutrients to bring the nursery plants to excellence. Horace convinced his partner that they probably had a marketable stand-alone product on their hands and after running a full-page ad in
a New York newspaper, received 22,000 dollars worth of orders! Customers loved it! Other fertilisers were soon to join the original all-purpose feed, including Miracle-Gro Ericaceous Plant Food, Miracle-Gro for Roses, Miracle-Gro for Tomatoes and Miracle-Gro Lawn Food.

In 1997, the company acquired Levington Horticulture Ltd here in the UK, giving Scotts a better base for their European market. They haven’t always been “good boys” though, as Scotts have recently been the focus of attention through the production of their potting compost mixture, which contains peat from valuable peat bogs in both England and Ireland. As if that isn’t bad enough, they failed to mention on the packaging that the compost even contained peat. Friends of the Earth campaigned against them, and most major gardening outlets quickly agreed to refrain from selling Miracle-Gro Compost. The same places will usually stock the All Purpose Feed that costs around £3 for a 1kg packet. I’ve so far used about half a kilo on about 20 containers.

I’ll definitely be using Miracle-Gro All Purpose Feed again next year. Once you’ve tried it, I’m sure you’ll find it very addictive. Watching your plants flourish is such a pleasure that you’ll find yourself looking forward to fertilising day! Or maybe it’s just me that gets excited about such trivial matters? Who cares! I love it, the plants love it, and even Mr O’s thrilled with the way his Cherry Blossom’s coming along these days.


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