Jilly, "soilless medium " is commercially packaged potting mix. These are usually peat based and include such amendments as perlite and vermiculite. My soilless medium of choice is bark based, with peat and perlite added. It's called "soilless " because this type of mix does not contain the sand, silt or clay which are components of (outdoor) soil. Soilless media, as a rule, maintain their porous structure for a long period of time. Porosity is the most important characteristic of a successful potting mix. 'Dead' refers, I presume, to the fact that these mixes are not teeming with the microorganisms found in an outdoor soil.....essential for a healthy soil system IN THE GROUND but wholly unnecessary in a potting medium. We don't need microorganisms in a potting mix to convert nitrogen. Period! Your soluble fertilizer of choice is ready to go. Stick with a fertilizer that you are comfortable with or already have. It should be one formulated for container plants....and does not matter what kind (usually) . The link provided by bugbite is for field grown marigolds. That has nothing to do with container culture.....nothing. You can use an 'all purpose ' fertilizer....same kind as for your other plants. The comparison between in-ground and container growing just does not work, for many reasons. For your ease of mind....the need for a high Potassium (middle number) number is largely a figment of the fertilizer companies. Just avoid too much nitrogen, which will promote an excess of vegetative growth at the sacrifice of flower production. Ken...I apologize to you for my earlier comment. I was wrong. For some reason, I focused in on the slow release comments (I like SRFs) and not the rest of your excellent advice. Conservative but regular applications of a soluble product is my usual routine, too. I hope you'll forgive me. This post was edited by rhizo_1 on Mon, Jun 24, 13 at 6:18

(I don't mean to single out anyone on this thread.) On this forum, people always say, "I try to garden as organically as possible" and then give an example of when they don't think that is possible, which is often the teensiest obstacle. I always want to say, "No, you don't. I try to garden as organically as possible, which I've learned, is very, very possible." I would prefer it if people would just frankly say, "I'm not wholly committed to organic gardening, although I admire the concept, in theory." This isn't actually a completely true post, though, I admit. I use amendments that are not organic. I use newspaper, I use manures from animals whose habits I know nothing about, and I buy inorganic seedlings from nurseries. I don't call myself an organic gardener, but I have never encountered---as a person who believes that gardens (or at least my garden) should be managed organically---a situation in a garden that cannot be ignored or a plant substituted or a crop not grown or leaf damage regarded as the minor problem it usually is. And what people forget about organic gardening is that one of the theories is that the main reason that it doesn't always go well, is that you've got your next door neighbor killing off all the beneficials, all the natural predators, that organic gardeners need to depend on for their methods to truly succeed. I admit (with shame) to using peat-based Pro-mix to start seedlings. I fertilize with fish/seaweed based products and---my favorite---worm castings from my worm bin.

I use horse manure both aged and fresh depending on the time of year. At least twice a year I apply alfalfa tea. The tea is made of alfalfa, fish oil emulsion, epsom salts, chicken poop (thank you neighbor), bunny poop (thank you other neighbor), molasses .. water. Left to age in a 100 gallon bucket for a week. The ingredients vary by what is on hand. I hesitate to explain what I do since our growing conditions are so very different. Here in the PNW it rains, rains and then rains some more in the winter; except this year almost no rain from Thanksgiving through Christmas. ElNino is coming to a glorious end. Summers no rain. I dont need to worry about salt or any build up in the soil. It rains away and the soil is glacial rock which helps with the cleansing of the soil. When I first began gardening at this location I had a soil sample test done. The above ingredients compliment the shortages in the soil. This year two of the gardens will be 3 years old. I plan to have the soils in this are retested. The roses for the most part are doing fine. Last springs brutal multiple freeze/thaw cycles sure proved a challenge. At the beautiful Rose Test Garden in Portland, OR, the stated that Zoo Doo surrounding the roses and Spring time application of Nitrogen is all that they need to do. Again not recommending what you should do. This works here. I use no chemical fertilizers nor spray for bugs or disease. Hope this was useful information. Jeannie

So the side plants are suckers. Convention says to plant me plants closer. They're only 8" apart so I don't know about that.