Peonies: planting and care – common mistakes of gardeners

A crop such as peonies belongs to the family of herbaceous perennials and deciduous shrubs and subshrubs.

In the natural environment, the culture grows in the subtropical and temperate regions of North America and Eurasia.

There are currently about 5 thousand varieties of plants, and people love them for their magnificent flowers, wonderful aroma and luxurious greenery, says Anastasia Kovrizhnykh .

Planting crops in unprotected soil

When to plant plants

The appropriate time for planting the crop is August or September.

Sometimes you have to plant plants in summer and spring, but they often get sick, form a small number of new roots and grow poorly. So it is better to plant and replant bushes during the autumn season.

In this case, it is necessary to allocate a sunlit place for the culture, which will be darkened at midday.

In a shaded area, the crop grows well, but does not bloom. It is necessary to plant the bushes at a certain distance from buildings and trees so that they do not block the air circulation near the plants.

You should also avoid places where groundwater is very high to the surface, because this can cause the plant's roots to rot.

Planting crops in autumn

A well-lit place with slightly acidic soil and low-lying groundwater is found for the plant. Before you begin planting the crop, you should prepare the holes and it is advisable to do this in July so that the soil has time to settle for planting.

The holes should be dug 60x60x60 cm in size, and the space between them should be no less than 90 cm, and preferably even more – 1 m, so that the air between the plants can move freely.

First, the top fertile soil layer is thrown back with a shovel, the rest of the soil is taken out of the hole. 15 kg of peat, compost or matured manure are poured there, in addition, 400 g of bone meal or 200 g of superphosphate are added. Half a bucket or a bucket of sand is added to clay soil, and the same amount of clay is added to sandy soil.

Caring for peonies in the garden

Irrigation of crops

Caring for plants in unprotected soil consists of timely irrigation, weeding of beds and application of fertilizers under the roots and on the ground under the bush.

Herbaceous and tree peonies are rarely watered; about 3 buckets of water are used for each adult plant so that the soil gets wet to the depth of the root system.

It is quite important that the bushes have enough moisture during the formation of buds and blossoming. And also in August, when the crop forms flower buds for the next year.

After irrigation, the soil in the beds is loosened and the weeds are removed, and then the soil around the peonies should be mulched with peat or humus.

Previously, we talked about how to get rid of dandelions forever so that they stop causing problems for garden crops .