Why so few blooms this year?

[lynbrown]

Every summer I have a lovely display in my pots on the patio but not this year. Only a few of the buds have opened up. They are impatiens. I buy from a reputable garden centre. Could it be that the soil is exhausted? I just re-pot every year in the same stuff.

[ubasses]

Mine have been good, but I always take the top few inches of compost off and replace so there is some goodness in it.

[SlackAlice]

Impatiens like plenty of Sun and warmth with moderate amounts of rain. If your living any where near me we've had very little of either and too much rain.
Could be your soil is impoverished, add some miraclegro or similar to your watering.

[rickoshea]

Same with us here north oxon hot april then a very dry period was probably the main reason regards rick

[carlton23]

Give them a tomato feed and water regularly, as Busy Lizzies are hungry blighters and they will reward you with masses of flowers, and when you buy them check to see if there are lots of roots, and if so pot on into a slightly larger pot with fresh compost, and don`t pack them into it too tightly.

[starone]

My pansies and petunias have given a beautiful display and are still going strong. I go out regularly and take off the dead blooms, it is a bit of a chore but worth it. I used to grow busy lizzies but one year they were very disappointing as apparently they had a virus and so I have not bothered since and instead went over to the pansies and petunias..

[hammerman]

It has been probably one of the best years ive known for bedding displays....with the exception of Impatiens.

My dad bought some imps from B&Q as he does every year for his baskets and pouches. He also bought their own multi purpose compost as recommended by "gardening which ?" magazine.

Within 2 weeks, all the Imps had died and the compost looked like dust....it was some of the worst stuff ive ever seen and ive been a profesional gardener and nurseryman for over 30 years.

When we asked B&Q about it, they said they had basically had a £5m crop failure due to growing the wrong variety of plants for our climate.

With regards to your plants Lyn, it is certainly worth replacing at least 50% of the old compost every year. New potting compost usually has enough nutrients to keep the plants going for about 6 - 8 weeks. Therefore it's often worth adding some slow release fertiliser such as osmocote or even growmore to the soil and mix it well in before planting. A weekly liquid feed with miracle grow will help too.

Don't forget that good watering and dead heading (removing the seed head rather than just the dead flower) will also make the plants last longer.

[boxtops]

I've had a similar problem with my hydrangea which is usually prolific - I do blame the cold and then the heat in the spring.

For pots, we change our soil altogether every couple of years - but I do recommend feeding with something like MiracleGro, it does make a difference.