What flowers are most popular in our flower beds and flower beds? Variety! Among them you can call roses, pansies, irises , daisies, gladioli, peonies and, of course, dahlias. The latter belong to the family of astroids and have many varieties. However, all dahlias unite one property - their large flowers of various shapes and colors are very beautiful. And yet, to grow annual dahlias is not difficult. Let's find out how!
Planting annual dahlias
Unlike perennial dahlias, annual flowers are unpretentious and easy to care for. Their tubers do not need to be excavated for the winter and provide them with proper storage conditions.
Annual dahlias are grown from seedlings, selecting the seeds of the variety you need for this. You can immediately sow them in the open ground (in May), but in this case the dahlias will not bloom until August. If you use the seedling method, then the seeds sown in early April will please you with their flowering already in June.
Soil mixture for growing seedlings of annual dahlias consists of soil, humus and calcined sand. Fill the seedling box with this mixture, spread the seeds of the flowers (as a rule, they are large enough), sprinkle with a layer of sand and lightly knead it. Then planting should be gently poured with water at room temperature.
Dive rostochki need a couple of weeks. Dahlias can be planted in one larger box or you can define each sprout in a separate container, which is usually covered with polyethylene.
Before planting the seedlings in the open ground, dahlias are hardened. And, of course, you must plant any of the varieties of dahlias in a sunny, warm place.
Annual dahlias - care and cultivation
It is not necessary to feed annual dahlias, it will be enough to add a little ash, humus and nitrophosphides to each well in the planting of seedlings.
Moderate watering is the main condition for the cultivation of these flowers. Water dahlias should be no more than once a week (except for drylands and the hottest days of summer, when the soil quickly dries up). Since August, watering is stopped altogether.
Prolong flowering will help timely pruning withered inflorescences. And with the first frosts, dahlias are covered for the night with light material, which will allow to delay the end of flowering for another couple of weeks.
As practice shows, keeping annual dahlias is not difficult. To do this, it is necessary to dig out their tubers after the first frosts, dry and store in winter in a dark cool place.