Nasturtium ("capuchin") attracts gardeners not only for its high decorativeness. This plant with bright fragrant flowers has valuable nutritional properties. There is much more vitamin C in its young leaves than in green lettuce. Seasoning is made from the seeds of a garden beauty, dishes are decorated with its flowers, knowledgeable people make therapeutic and cosmetic tinctures and decoctions from capuchin. Fortunately, nasturtium is easily propagated: by seeds, seedlings and cuttings.
You will need
- - Seeds of nasturtium;
- - bayonet shovel;
- - superphosphate;
- - ash;
- - compost;
- - water;
- - containers with a retractable bottom or peat pots;
- - a garden knife.
Instruction manual
1
Stock up on nasturtium seeds. As a rule, they retain germination for 4-5 years, so you can use last year's and earlier fruits of capuchin from your garden. Or buy seed from a familiar summer resident or in a flower shop with a good reputation.
2
In mid-May, dig up and loosen the flower bed to the depth of a bayonet shovel. Add superphosphate (2 tablespoons), some wood ash and compost to the soil.
3
Make holes, measuring between them a distance of 25-30 cm. Put in each a couple of seeds. Water the crops and wait for seedlings - they should appear in a couple of weeks.
4
Grow nasturtium seedlings if you want earlier flowering shrubs. This method of cultivating a thermophilic plant is optimal in late May frosts. Already at the end of April, you need to plant the seeds in peat pots with a diameter of 9-10 cm or in containers with a retractable bottom. From the fall, prepare garden soil or buy suitable soil from gardeners.
5
Do not pick, as the delicate root system of the flower can withstand them with difficulty. In early June, you must immediately plant nasturtium in the garden, always with an untouched earthen lump.
6
For growing capuchin, choose only sunny places. Optimal soil is moderately fertile and moist. Loam or sandstone is suitable. Do not forget to water the flowerbed, but in moderation - excess moisture will prevent plentiful flowering and may even cause root decay.
7
If you have new terry plant varieties, cuttings will help to propagate them and preserve all the beauty of the mother bush. Transplant the healthiest decorative specimen into a roomy container. Do this carefully so as not to damage the lump of the earth and the root system of the flower.
8
Let the varietal plant winter in a cool window on the sunny side of the house. Water it not too plentifully. At the beginning of summer, dissect the “mother” nasturtium: cut off its apical shoots with 4-5 leaves and immediately plant them in the soil.
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