Beautiful petunias look great in flower beds and bloom wonderfully all summer. And they seem to be created for planting in pots, balcony boxes, all kinds of baskets and vases. Bright colors in portable mini-colors can decorate both the entrance area, and the veranda, and the playground for recreation. At the end of April, it’s time to start planting petunia seedlings in baskets and pots.
The root system of petunia is relatively large, so to create a mini-flowerbed, you should take large enough pots or planters. Small baskets are not suitable, it is better to plant lobelia in them, for example, which does not have powerful roots.
It is important to properly prepare the soil mixture. It should be borne in mind that petunia is an extremely voracious person, it requires a lot of food for abundant flowering. Another important point to keep in mind is the rapid drying of the soil in a limited volume of the pot.
A moisture-intensive mixture, loose and fertile, is suitable for growing petunias in pots. You can buy it in the store or cook it yourself. In case your garden land is dense and heavy, you need to add neutral peat and sand. The proportions depend on the type of main soil, but about 2 parts of heavy earth are taken for 1 part of peat and sand.
It is important to prepare a suitable soil mixture
To simplify watering, many gardeners use hydrogel or vermiculite. The hydrogel is soaked in advance (soaked) in water or a solution of fertilizers for flowers. Vermiculite is convenient to knead when preparing soil mixtures. It is also good to immediately add a slowly soluble complex fertilizer, it can be, for example, superphosphate.
Many people are concerned about the question of how many petunias are optimally planted in a particular container. It is necessary to focus primarily on the size of an adult plant, information about this is printed by conscientious manufacturers on the packaging with seeds. For example, in pots measuring 40X18X15 cm (15.7x7x5.9 in), you can place 2 plants of Bush petunia.
We determine the number of plants.
And now we offer several options for creating portable mini flower beds.
- Pots with petunias and Lobelia
Fill the pots with the prepared mixture to about half. Place two bushes of petunia plants so that after the final filling their cultivation level remains the same.
Fill the soil almost to the top of the plant and plant several ampel lobelia plants. Its root system is small, so it will not compete with petunia.
Pots with petunias and Lobelia
- A basket of annuals
The bottom of the basket for bulk materials is lined with dense polyethylene, in which we make small holes with scissors to drain excess water. Fill the filling mixture to the brim.
One plant, a petunia bush, is planted on one side. On the other hand, we plant several ampel lobelia plants.
A basket of annuals
The remaining space will be reserved for the white fragrant alissum. It can be grown by seedlings, but direct sowing in the ground is quite acceptable, it grows perfectly. Sow alyssum on the surface and cover with a transparent lid until seedlings appear. Later we will need to leave 2-3 plants, so after reliable germination, the excess should be removed.
As a result, we will get a charming basket with blooming petunia and a white fragrant cloud of alissum, which will emphasize lobelia.
- Pots in blue and white
I planted two petunias with blue flowers in pots, as in the first version. Between them, we sow a little alissum and cover it with a transparent lid.
It will take 2-3 days, and the seeds will germinate, the lid can be removed. Later, it is necessary to remove excess sprouts, leaving a couple of plants.
Alyssum sprouts for 2-3 days
As a result, we get a white fragrant cloud in the center and blue petunia flowers on the edges. It will be even more interesting if you choose a hybrid petunia of blue flowers with a white border around the edge.
If you plant flower seedlings in May and plan to plant flowers outdoors, then the first 2-4 days they need to be placed in the shade. This makes it easier for plants to adapt to new conditions and become stronger faster.
And what mini-flower beds are there in your garden? Share it with us in the comments.