Lavender - growing from seeds at home

Lavender is a Mediterranean perennial plant, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern garden. Descriptions of over 30 types of lavender are provided. Instances with violet, white, blue and even pink inflorescences bloom not only in the vastness of Provence. Blooming lavender gives off a pleasant smell and is considered medicinal. This is what made the plant popular.

Lavender propagation methods

A fragrant plant can be propagated in many ways.

• Many flower growers prefer to plant the blue eye with cuttings, as the parental qualities of the bush are fully preserved. For this purpose, you can use green and lignified shoots, which should have 3-4 growth nodes. Suitable soil for cuttings is a mixture of 2 parts of humus and sand. The lower kidney should be completely in the ground. For the stem to take root, it must be lowered into the stimulant solution to form the roots.

Blooming lavender

• Division of the bush. The shoots of an adult plant should be bent into prepared furrows and covered with earth. You can plant a plant no earlier than a year later, but with this reproduction a large number of new plants will not work.
• It can propagate by self-sowing, so flower growers are trying to grow lavender from seeds. Growing lavender from seeds at home is a simple process, but it scares many beginner growers with its duration. After all, you need to not only collect the seeds, but also soak in cold, wet sand for about two months, plant them on seedlings at the end of winter, plant them in separate cups and transfer them to a permanent place with warm spring weather.

To propagate the lavender flower, you can choose the method that does not seem very complicated.

Breeding lavender

Lavender: growing from seeds at home

You need to collect purple grass for seeds on a sunny morning, when the spikelets of the plant are almost completely bloomed. High shoots are cut off and laid out in partial shade for drying. After the leaves of the plant began to rustle, small black seeds are shaken out of the nut fruits. They are collected and cleaned in a hermetically sealed container.

Pretreatment of Lavender Seeds

For sowing, not all seeds are suitable, but those that, in dry form, exude a strong odor. To get good seedlings, they need to be stratified:

1. mix with material that retains moisture (sand, peat, sawdust) and place in a container;
2. moisten the crop from the spray gun;
3. Do not tightly cover the container and place in the cellar.

The process of growing lavender from seeds is quite lengthy, only stratification lasts about two months.

Soil preparation

As long as the seeds are stratified, you need to take care of the soil for future crops. Soil can be purchased in specialized stores or prepared independently: mix 3 parts of leaf turf, which can be dug under a large tree, add 1 part of humus and sand. Since lavender seeds are very small, it is better to sift the soil, calcine in the oven or treat with a solution of manganese.

How to plant lavender seeds at home

After two months have passed, the seeds can be sown. Before filling the containers selected for seedlings with a prepared soil composition, a drainage layer must be laid to the bottom. Seeds scattered on the ground should be covered with sand and moistened. The container with planting material is covered with glass (film). Daily ventilation should not be neglected, otherwise mold may appear on the seeds and they will lose their germination. For germination, seeds need a temperature of 12 ° C to 20 ° C.

Mountain Flower Seeds

After the appearance of the second leaf in young shoots, you need to pick the seedlings. To do this, take small containers (preferably peat), which are filled with a substrate of peat and sand with the obligatory addition of long-acting fertilizer. Small sprouts need to be removed along with the ground, so as not to injure the fragile root system.

Crops need a flowerbed well lit by the sun. Care consists of observing three rules:

• moderate temperature conditions;
• soil moisture; drying of the soil should not be allowed;
• the hardening process is important: daily seedlings need to be exposed outside, but so that the direct rays of the sun do not fall on immature plants. The first days of seedlings are on the street for about an hour, gradually time increases.

With the establishment of warm weather, seedlings are planted on a sunny flower bed with light sandy clay soil. In the first year, young shoots build up the root system, so they need to be planted in deep, spacious pits. The distance between plants should be maintained at 80 cm.

Many gardeners prepare special soil. To do this, remove the soil from the planting hole and mix it with sand, humus and mineral fertilizers.

The soil under the planted plant needs to be mulched, but so that the stem does not turn out to be covered. Lavender care does not stop all summer. Before the onset of frost, the stem must be cut and covered with roots. In the second spring, the overwintered plant has a wild development of shoots, and it blooms.

How to plant lavender

How to plant lavender seeds in open ground

If you want to decorate your garden with a large array of purple southerners, you can plant it with seeds. In order for the plants to develop well and bloom, you can use the following step-by-step instruction:

1. Lavender shrub will not bloom in the shade. It is necessary to choose an open sunny place.
2. A plant needs soil in which moisture does not linger. The site needs to be cleared of weeds, scattered on it a layer of river sand and dig. This will increase the permeability of the soil.
3. You need to plant seeds in early October to a depth of about 4 mm. Sprinkle grooves with earth and tamp.
4. If the weather is dry, then crops need to be watered.
5. With the onset of frost, the site is covered with leaves so that the snow cover is delayed.

Growing lavender in flowerpots

Lavender can be grown in a pot. You can plant the following varieties: Dwarf blue, Nana Alba, Gavrish Voznesensky, Mansted, Lavender Lady, etc. For crops, you should take a spacious flowerpot or a long container, but in any case, you need to drill holes in the bottom of the container and put it on the pallet to drain excess moisture . The soil is suitable in the form of a mixture of sand, peat, sheet land. You can plant a plant in any way: seeds, cuttings, layering.

Rules for planting and caring for the shrub lavender in a flowerpot:

• in a pot, the soil dries up quickly, so you need to water often and not only the root of the flower, but also shoots. Overmoistening of the soil can cause root decay. Water for irrigation should be settled;
• seedlings within two months must be fed (2 g of liquid complex fertilizers per 1 liter of water). Before the onset of buds, it is better to use nitrogen mixtures, then potassium phosphorus, since nitrogen will cause a new growth of leaves, flowering will slow down;
• light should fall on the plant 8-10 hours a day, so you have to use additional lighting with fluorescent lamps;

Growing lavender in flowerpots

• with the onset of spring, the flower must be accustomed to sunlight and taken out to the balcony for the summer;
• after the bush is discarded, the crown needs to be trimmed;
• in the fall, the period between watering increases. In winter, the soil in the flowerpot is moistened rarely and not abundantly, but drying out the soil cannot be allowed, otherwise the plant will dry out;
• for wintering, the bush needs a moderate temperature. During the winter period, the instance should gain strength;
• if the plant does not grow in spring, then it needs to be transplanted urgently;
• narrow-leaved flowers are not affected by pests, but with inadequate care, gray rot may develop.

Many gardeners strive to decorate the spaciousness of their garden with an unusual English lavender, which attracts with its originality and low-key beauty. Caring for an instance is quite straightforward. If you attach a little more patience and zeal to it, the blue of the Mediterranean guest will fill the garden with charm, luxury and spicy aroma.