June 24th, 2021 by Sarah Miles

Having spent a lot more time at home over the last year and been much more reliant on our outdoor spaces, many people have taken up gardening as a new hobby, putting in flowers and shrubs for decoration, adding bee and butterfly friendly plants for the benefit of the environment, or growing their own vegetables. If you have invested a bit of money, time, and energy into your garden it can be incredibly disappointing when your plants just don’t grow as they should.

Don’t despair though; there are often some quite simple reasons why your plants may not be thriving. Here is our guide to the most common issues.

1. Not enough sun

The amount of sun a plant needs will vary according to species but generally speaking, most plants require direct sunlight for around 8 hours a day to grow. If you find that the plants that are in sunlight grow well but the ones in the shade are fairing less well, that could be the reason. Likewise, if you have bigger plants or items that are blocking the sun (eg garden furniture or outbuildings), this may be hindering them. Of course, for some plants, the opposite is true! Some species will die off if they’re placed in direct sunlight, so it’s worth doing some research on the plant in question before you make a move.

What can you do?

If items are blocking the sun, try moving them, and if your plants are in pots and easily moved around, try putting them where there is better access to the sun. If your garden just doesn’t get enough sun, it may be better to focus instead on growing plants that like the shade, such as snowdrops, foxgloves, or bleeding hearts.

2. Under or overwatering

In addition to the sun, the other essential element to strong growth is, of course, water. Most of us can recognise the signs that a plant is not getting enough water as it will wilt and eventually the leaves will dry up completely. You should definitely be watering your plants over the summer when there’s little rainfall. However, did you know that over-watering can be just as damaging to plant growth? Giving plants too much water can lead to rot and that will inhibit a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients. This can especially affect plants in containers where there is insufficient drainage in the pots.

What can you do?

The soil the plants are sat in should be a little dry to the touch before adding water (it’s never good for plants to sit in standing water for any length of time). Just touch the soil and when it starts to feel dry, it’s time to water it. You may find that not all your plants need the same amount of water. Larger plants will want more and those in more direct sunlight will dry out faster so get a feel for how much water each part of the garden needs.

3. Overcrowding

It’s a common pitfall for the novice gardener to throw loads of plants into the borders or containers because they look pretty. They may not even seem too close at first, but most perennials will come back bigger each year and there is also much more going on under the soil that you can’t see so roots could be tangling and choking each other underneath. They will often get to a certain size and then stop growing or even start to die back.

What can you do?

Try giving your plants some space by relocating some. This will give them more room to grow and flourish over the season.

4. Weeds

The bane of most gardeners’ lives! In the same way that too many plants in too small an area will start to impact on growth, weeds will start to take nutrients from your plants and compromise their growth. Of course, weeds tend to be very hardy and much stronger than the plants you actually want and will often get the upper hand.

What can you do?

Keep on top of the weeds and pull them out as soon as you can (there is a reason we use the phrase ‘grows like a weed’!). You can apply weedkiller but be very careful not to get any on your actual plants as it will kill everything. If you are not sure whether something is a weed or a plant, there are apps you can use to help you identify them or a quick google image search can help. If you have neighbours who are more advanced gardeners than you, why not ask them? Living in the same area they will no doubt be getting the same ones popping up in their gardens.

5. Insufficient nutrients in the soil

The soil that your plants are growing in is also really important for plant health. If you find that the plants you have growing in containers are thriving better than the ones planted directly in the soil of your garden, it indicates that there just aren’t enough nutrients in the soil (and containers are more likely to have used shop-bought potting compost that’s rich in nutrients).

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What can you do?

Try mixing some potting compost or plant food in with your soil to enrich it. You can buy fertiliser or you can make your own with a variety of household waste including coffee grounds, grass clippings, eggshells, and vegetable scraps.