Astra - the queen of autumn. Features care and cultivation

Autumn. Nature prepares for sleep. And suddenly, among the upcoming pacification - an explosion of colors and emotions. Raznotsvete bright bursts in the mouth of the garden, bringing a new spark of life in it. Pink, purple, red, with yellow eyes and a cute pussies, they become a kind of calling card of autumn decorating front gardens and flower beds.

Not one autumn bouquet is complete without this simple but beautiful flower. Large, furry, long-stemmed aster, loved by many. Unpretentious flower, so its easy to breed and inexperienced growers.

Astra (callistephus) - annual plant which is grown in two ways: planting seed in the soil or planting seedlings.

Prepare for planting in the fall. To begin, select a location for a bed. If the soil is exhausted, it is necessary to improve and fertilize. Make the soil humus or compost, add wood ash.

To grow beautiful flowers, it is necessary to buy quality fresh seeds. Be sure to look at their shelf-life, after two years germination is very weak. Seedlings seeds are planted in late March or early April.

For these purposes, use pots or mini boxes - Teplička, which put on the windowsill. Used, bought in a specialty store, universal soil or peat. If you use soil from the garden, then to prevent the disease of seedlings, seeds can be treated with a fungicide and wells sown seeds pour rather weak solution of manganese.

Seeds deepen 0.5 cm., To the container, where they will rise tensioned film. A week later, when the shoots appear, you need to remove the film, and the young shoots to put in a bright and warm room.

As soon as the first leaf, conduct a dive. If rostochku strongly stretched, they can be put on - deeper, to the lower leaves, 5 cm. Seated in individual small pots (cups) -2 to 1 pc. or stationary greenhouse.

Young shoots well tolerated transplant, but once a week plants feed up complexfertilizer.

Permanent "residence" the seedlings are planted in the early - mid-May, depending on the region. Frost on the ground, she is not afraid, carries cooling to -3 * C. By the time of transplantation, the plant already has a well-developed root system and aerial part.

The day before planting, the soil is good pour, you can make a potassium-phosphorus fertilizer. To flower garden, choose a well-lit place where there is no stagnation of rainwater. Seedlings will land in the evening, the sun's rays do not burn your tender plants.

Bushes located 15 - 20 cm from each other. Abundant watering asters do not like, but it is impossible to dry out the soil. A month later, the flowers Feed the complex fertilizer.

You can plant the seeds directly into the ground aster. It is believed that asters planted in winter are hardier and not so sick. Therefore, with the onset of cold weather, the seeds can be planted in the pre-prepared lune or grooves.

Delve 1 cm and carefully sprinkle the ground. Put metochki to spring could find a landing site. But, usually, aster planted in the spring. With the advent of the third leaf, the young seedlings are thinned by gently scooping sprout.

Between plants 15 cm is left for further growth and dug transferred to another location.

Caring for a flower garden is not difficult, time watering and weeding the flower bed, a couple of times before flowering make fertilizer, whereas in autumn it will delight you with beautiful flowers. Alina varieties, Ajax, Valkyrie gold, apricot Harlequin will decorate a flower bed.