Gatsania in the garden is a beautiful unpretentious plant, pleasing to the eye with its bright flowers similar to daisies. The homeland of the plant is Africa, which explains its love for sunny and warm places. In addition, the African origin explains the fact that gazing in the ground does not tolerate excessive dampness. In order to be able to grow this bright sunny plant in your garden or flower garden, you need to know everything about planting and caring for it.
Planting seeds and seedlings of gazania
When choosing the soil in which the seedlings of the plant will grow, nutritious and light mixtures should be preferred. In addition, it is important to arrange good drainage to prevent stagnant water. Ideal is a mixture of turf, sand, humus and leafy soil, taken in equal amounts.
It is possible to grow gazania seedlings, the photo of which is presented below, both in common deep containers, for example, plastic boxes in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of 5 cm from each other, and in separate cups:
It is recommended to use peat cups, along with them then the plants are transplanted to a permanent place, for example, a flower bed or a large outdoor flowerpot. This method of sowing will help in the future, during planting near the ground, to avoid damage to the tap root of the plant.
Seeds should not be planted deep, you just need to drown them a little in the ground or just lightly sprinkle with earth on top. In order for the sown seeds to hatch as soon as possible, it is important to provide them with the most comfortable conditions.
The ambient air and soil temperature must be at least 18 ºС. If there is not enough sunlight, the shoots need to be illuminated. It is best to water the seeds and sprouting shoots from a spray bottle, while the water temperature should be 19-20 degrees for best germination.
The emerging shoots develop slowly at first, then this process accelerates. As the plants grow and grow stronger, the temperature of their content should be gradually reduced, eventually bringing it to 15-17 degrees. Planting grown plants in open ground is carried out in May at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other.
When planting gazania seedlings in open ground from a common container, you need to be extremely careful not to damage the root system. Therefore, they should be transplanted with a long scoop, which will help not to destroy the earthen ball around each sprout.
It is recommended to land on a flower bed in May, after the threat of night frosts has passed. To prevent damage to the sprouts, you can additionally cover them with a film. The root system of the gazania plant is distinguished by its rod structure, so the holes in the ground must be of the appropriate depth. Flowering of gazania in flowerbeds begins 2.5-3.0 months after the appearance of the first shoots.
Propagation of gazania by cuttings and caring for flowers
Reproduction of gazania is also possible by cuttings, but this method is only suitable for some varieties. To do this, in August, with the help of a sharp blade, a side shoot is cut off along with the “heel” and planted in a deep container.
The planted cuttings need to create the same conditions as for seedlings. After 2 months, roots form, it will be possible to plant the cuttings in the ground in the spring.
An important point in growing a gazania flower is competent watering. It should be rare, but plentiful. That is why the plant is excellent for growing in urban flower beds, the daily watering of which is not always possible. When the soil is waterlogged, the flower begins to hurt, gazania belongs to the category of those plants that are better to dry than to pour.
A photo of blooming gazania in the garden can be seen below:
In order for the flowerbed on which the gazania is planted to look good, and the flower to please the eye with lush and bright flowering for a long time, it is important to remove weeds in a timely manner and loosen the soil. In addition, it is necessary to remove faded inflorescences in a timely manner in order to stimulate the emergence of new buds.
Proper cultivation and care of gazania involves regular feeding of the plant with fertilizers. They need to be produced every five weeks and it is best to use complex fertilizers for flowering plant varieties.
Growing gazania, the video of the process of which is given below, will not cause any difficulties, provided that it is properly cared for:
In landscape design , this undersized plant is used everywhere. It can be found on alpine slides and discounts, as well as curbs. The flower goes well with ageratum, ursinia, lobelia, arctotis, iberis, etc.