# I can't grow anything in front of my house!



## rtdad (Jul 13, 2019)

Pics below

Every year I plant different flowers and nothing makes it more than a few months. I've tried local nursery hydrangeas, then mostly big box stores. Left side of my house is shaded, right is full sun for 5-6hrs a day. I've seen grubs, do you think they are taking over? Below is how I prep the soil:

Few years ago I had a landscape company dig out the entire area (with a bobcat) and assist in prep. 
I then hired a landscaper to assist with proper planting depth, etc. 
And yet still I fail.. 

Dig a hole 2x-3x as wide as the plant 
Mix in new soil
Fertilizer
Break up /scrape root bulb gently
Lots of water
Mulch
Water almost daily

Now I'm adding miracle grow but it seems it's not helping (2 feedings, 3 weeks apart so far)

Thanks for any and ll help


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## chrismar (May 25, 2017)

A few comments:

1) Stop amending the soil at planting time. A handful or two of compost is fine, but replacing 1/2 or more of the soil in the planting hole with "new" soil is causing some serious confusion for the plants. They need to be able to adapt to the native soil, and not the bagged soil you've given it.

2) Don't fertilize at planting time. Especially with synthetic fert. A tablespoon or two of organic fert (think 'holly-tone' or 'plant-tone' or similar) is fine, or as mentioned above, a couple handfuls of compost. In fact, I don't typically fertilize for the first few months the new plants are in the ground. Reason being is the grower or nursery fertilizes them pretty heavily to make them look appealing to you (the consumer). Again, this is in an effort to get them used to their new home in your native soil. For example, if I plant in the spring, I'll fertilize for the first time in the fall of that year. If I plant in the fall, I'll fertilize for the first time the following spring.

3) Water only when you need to. Stick your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle or two. Is the soil dry, or only slightly moist? Water. Is it sufficiently moist? Check again the next day. Rinse. Repeat. You might find that you soil retains the water more than you'd expect. Which means, watering every day is effectively drowning the roots and killing the plants.


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## rtdad (Jul 13, 2019)

chrismar said:


> A few comments:
> 
> 1) Stop amending the soil at planting time. A handful or two of compost is fine, but replacing 1/2 or more of the soil in the planting hole with "new" soil is causing some serious confusion for the plants. They need to be able to adapt to the native soil, and not the bagged soil you've given it.
> 
> ...


Great, thanks for the feedback.

This year and last year I didn't replace the soil and it still died.

I noticed lots of grubs. Could this be a problem?


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## chrismar (May 25, 2017)

Define "lots", is it more than a dozen in a square foot?


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## Dawgvet (Jul 2, 2019)

rtdad said:


> Lots of water
> 
> Water almost daily


This may be an issue. I agree with chrismar that you need to water when you need to. You may accidentally be causing root rot or not allowing oxygen to be present at the root level d.t too much water. Basically drowning the plant.


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## rtdad (Jul 13, 2019)

Dawgvet said:


> rtdad said:
> 
> 
> > Lots of water
> ...


I think you're right. I think last year or year before I didn't water enough and this year over compensating. Neighbors have great flowers throughout their whole backyard and said they water daily so I was following that thought process..


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## rtdad (Jul 13, 2019)

chrismar said:


> Define "lots", is it more than a dozen in a square foot?


I didn't dig up enough to check, but I would say possibly yes.


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