Plant/Flower Food?

[my_secret_garden]

Hi all. I recieved a Bleeding Heart plant from my baby sister for my birthday (next month) and it said that it needs to recieve plant food once a month. Should I purchase some kind of plant food for my plants and flowers or is there some other way to feed my plants? Most of my flowers are beautiful and thriving but the Bleeding Heart and also my Columbine are looking a little tepid. Any suggestions? A friend from work suggested I feed my plants Miracle Grow once a week but that stuff is so expensive... any suggestions would be great. To give you an idea of what kind of things I have in my yard... I have planted Impatiens, Daylilies, Tiger Lilies, Moss Roses, Dianthus, Fuchias of all kinds, Columbine, Hawaii Blue, Hostas, Tulips, Lily of the Valley, Lilac Bushes, Snow on the Mountain, etc... also strawberries and lettuce. BTW - I have a compost pile but my compost is nowhere near ready for use yet.

Thanks in advance.

[Grey]

Well, I use several things - I have bonemeal and bloodmeal, and fish emulsion that I apply every once in a while, and beyond that, the high nitrogen feeders like grasses, tomatoes & roses get ground up eggshells.

[FairyDust]

I put in a bleeding heart about 3 weeks ago and right after planting when I watered it I added a fish emulsion and its doing very well. I water with the fish emulsion every two weeks (the bottle says once a week) and then on the off weeks I water using the water from the pond that way I don't waste that water when I change the water out every week (there's no fish in the pond, we have a resident frog).

[garden_mom]

Also, they best no-fail, all around great for everything fertilizer is, of course, good old fashioned compost. For potted plants you can also use a handful of worm castings.