Do I feed soil for most flower seeds?

[sarahspatch]

Hi,
I have read in the past that some flowers need poor soil to grow well.
Any ideas what these flowers are?

I'm growing Calendula, poached eggs, Cornflowers, Nasturtiums and Cosmos.

I normally put down chicken fertiliser when I sow.

[Snadger]

Hi,
I have read in the past that some flowers need poor soil to grow well.
Any ideas what these flowers are?

I'm growing Calendula, poached eggs, Cornflowers, Nasturtiums and Cosmos.

I normally put down chicken fertiliser when I sow.

Calendula,Cornflower,Nasturtium and Cosmos are all annuals and will put on a lot of leaf at the detriment of flowers if fed with chicken pellets. Poached egg plant grows anywhere, even between he cracks in paving so neeed a similar fertiliser regime. If anything I would feed with comfey tea or failing that a tomato fertiliser high in potassium!

[nick the grief]

Snadgers right, the last thing you want with these is a rich soil as you'll get loads of leaf. That said normally you're better to feed the soil than the plants as a healthy soil will give you healthy plants.

[Two_Sheds]

I'd never waste money on chicken pellets/fertiliser for flowers
All those you mention grow perfectly well without it. Personally, the only flowering plants I would feed are those in the ground permanently, like roses, clematis.
Flowers in containers need a bit of a boost though, because they don't have access to all the nutrients in soil.

[sarahspatch]

Thanks for the advice, anything that saves a bit of time is fine by me!

[Alice]

Isn't it strange how different things work for different people.
I know the conventional wisdom says nasturtiums want poor soil But when I had them in poor soil I had little runty plants with poor flowers whereas the ones in good soil were smothered in flowers. I've found the same to be true for all flowers. The better the soil, the better the display.