Lavender - the secrets of growing Bashny.Net

Lavender - a beautiful plant, endearing elegant, delicate aroma. It is a very long time has gained wide popularity among gardeners. Fluffy bushes of lavender, Pestryaev bright buds, cones - a great plant for borders, rock gardens and rockeries.

Of course, to get the luxurious flower bed, will have to try. Care need regular lavender.

The set of measures necessary to enable:
- Loosening the soil;
- Elimination of weeds;
- Watering;
- Pruning;
- Fertilizing;
- Preparing for the winter

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Lavender - heat-loving plant. Therefore, this perennial grown in open ground can not in any climatic zone. In cold climates should be planted bushes in pots, and at the first hint of a cold snap quickly transfer them to a warm place. As the pot of culture can be grown all varieties of lavender.

A place for planting
Key to successful cultivation of lavender - the right choice of location for planting. Most of the plant like open areas, well-lit sun. Bushes and take root in the shade, just do not manage to achieve an abundant and long-flowering.
plant roots are sensitive to high soil moisture levels. Therefore it is necessary to refrain from planting lavender in wetlands and areas where the lie is too high groundwater. If no other choice, you can try to build a hill and has put her bushes. Excess moisture near the roots easily eliminated by the drainage layer.
Lavender demanded refers to the level of acidity and soil structure. Therefore, if in doubt, better to be safe - before planting into the soil to make a little wood ash or lime. It - effective scavengers soil. And to ensure that the porous structure of the soil enough to make regular on the bed of compost. He not only loosen the soil, but also complement it with nutrients.

Features lavender planting
Planting lavender - responsible process. Adults bushes do not tolerate transplanting, if you have to do it, carefully and only with a clod of earth volume. It is better to immediately determine where they will be placed bushes grown from seed, cuttings or layering.
The distance between adjacent instances should be approximately equal to their maximum height. Then the bushes are lush. And to get a slender green hedges can reduce this option twice. So you can maximize the monolithic block plantations.
Lavender Cuttings root quickly enough. fit algorithm is simple: to deepen a couple of centimeters in loose soil mixture, cover film and regularly moisten the soil. Rooted cuttings carefully dug up and transplanted to the selected location.
Cuttings - is rooted branches of the plant. For spring planting material should bend one of the lower shoots to the side. Location of contact with the ground level to fix and covered with soil. Once formed roots lump strains carefully cut with a sharp knife. Place slice sprinkled with powdered charcoal, to protect from decay processes. All - strains ready for planting.

Lavender - the secrets of growing

Sowing seeds lavender
Lavender is difficult to propagate by seed. But if you can not buy adult plant or branches, you can try and sowing seeds.
A very important step - stratification. Lavender Seeds should be kept for some time at low temperatures. Here you can go two ways: to plant them in late fall directly into the ground or to implement an artificial stratification. The first method is only suitable for warm climates. With significant frost seeds may die. Therefore it is better to stop the election on the second option.
For artificial stratification of the seeds must be mixed with a small amount of sand, pour into a container, wrap in plastic and refrigerate. To sustain them there are not less than six weeks. Better - longer. In this case, the shoots will appear. Then it is possible to sow the seeds in boxes (in late winter) or in greenhouses on the street (in late spring).
When sowing seeds of flowering have expected the whole year. In the first seasons of seedlings will only grow, building up the root system. And only a year, and maybe even two, they will be pleased with cute gardener spikelets-buds.

Lavender - the secrets of growing

Soil Processing
near bushes Lavender does not like dense soils. Its roots really need good air circulation. In addition, of course, you need to get rid of the infestation of weeds next to lavender. Therefore, land tilling and weeding should become a regular procedure.
You can do simple - to organize in the garden with lavender good mulch layer. As the mulch you can use humus or decorative foliage colored substrates. But in any case the soil has to be near the base of the trunk undisguised. This will protect the plant from rotting.
Watering lavender to be very careful. Excessive irrigation can lead to rotting of the roots and the yellowing of the aerial parts of the plant. Drought also reflects poorly on the plant - lavender will not perish, but flowering will not be as luxurious as you would like. The ideal watering regime - as the soil dries

. Pruning lavender bushes
This stage of care lavender can not be called a must. But pruning can be done to form a beautiful lush bushes. So do not give up a useful procedure.
The first pruning is necessary to carry out immediately after the fade-spikelets inflorescence. Shorten shoots need just a couple of centimeters. At the end of the warm season performed more radical pruning. But here too, should not be over-enthusiasm. If all the branches shortened to the level of lignified part of the bush can be lost.

Adding fertilizer
As a fertilizer for lavender are excellent mineral complexes, which are sold in all horticultural and flower shops. They should be made in the beginning of flowering. Concentration - 2 tablespoons a bucket of water. The resulting solution should be shed on the ground shrubs around the perimeter.
For the development of green mass meet nitrogen fertilizers (2 tablespoons per bucket). Therefore, they are indispensable in the beginning of the growing season (growth). But in the second half of the summer their use is prohibited. Under the influence of nitrogen vegetation period is extended considerably. As a result - the plant does not have time to prepare for winter.
From fertilizer use can and does give up, if under the bushes is a thick layer of mulch from the compost. Decomposing under the influence of external factors, it will be throughout the season to supply plant nutrients.

Preparing for winter
For lavender bushes, which will spend the winter in the open field, we provide a safe shelter. However, in warm climates, you can do without it - according to the experts, lavender is well survive the winter, even if the temperature drops to -25 ° C. If frost is expected stronger that mark, insulation is necessary. Also, no harm will be safe in cases where winter can be a little snow.
At the end of the season of lavender bushes pruned. On top of the bed of stacked branches (especially from conifers). But the usual insulation is not suitable as a layer of foliage. Underneath lavender may rot.
In general, care lavender is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. The use of compost mulch eliminates the weeding, hoeing and fertilizing the introduction. Therefore, the gardener will only timely trim bushes so they grow strong and bloom profusely.
Lavender - the secrets of growing

Types of Lavender
Many people associate lavender bushes with the same purple color. In fact, different varieties of shades conquer diversity. There are instances of blue, white, pink and even greenish colors. And this is just the basic palette. And the shades of the inflorescence, spikelets more. But the colors - not the only difference between the different varieties of lavender.
According to conventional classification, identified two broad groups:. English and French
English Lavender - owner of the narrow elongated leaves and spikelets-inflorescences. It is worth noting that this kind was the most widely used. Such varieties safely spend the winter in the middle lane, without the need for excavation in the late autumn.

Lavender - the secrets of growing

French Lavender - a capricious plant. Externally it is similar to previous species, but it has wider leaves and inflorescence shorter. Traditionally used as a potting culture. After all, even minor frosts up to -15 ° C can quickly destroy the plant.