Malvae - one of the most popular garden flowers in Ukraine. They delight the eye with a wide range of beautiful shades and abundant blooms. You can easily enough grow these plants from seeds yourself.

Homes and Gardens spoke with experts to find out how to do it. And how to care for mallows so they bloom long and brightly.

Where to grow mallows

For best results, there are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a location for these plants. Malvae need well-drained soil enriched with compost or other organic matter. They are not too picky about the acidity of the soil, but they feel better in slightly alkaline soils.

Also, these plants need a lot of sunlight. And also protection from the wind, which can break their tall stems.

Malvas can be grown in pots. But it is important to remember that the container must be deep enough to accommodate the long root system of the plant. Such plants will need watering more often, because the soil in the pot dries out quickly enough.

When and how to plant mallows

To help mallow seedlings form a strong root system, they should be germinated in large enough pots with a diameter of 10 cm. In open soil, the plant is planted in early summer or early fall. The distance between the stems should be about 60 cm. Since they are hardy plants, they do not need special frost protection.

To ensure that the mallow plants take root, the hole in which they are planted should first be enriched with compost. And after planting, the plant is watered abundantly.

It will be good to give the mallow a support for a tall stem. This can be sturdy garden stakes or bamboo stems, to which the plant can be attached with soft ties. In this case, the wind will not be able to break the mallow.

Seeds of the flower can be sown under the cover in spring. Or in early summer, if you put them in the open ground. Also provide such a mallow with a support and put it in a sunny place.

How to care for mallows

These plants are fairly drought tolerant, so they don't need frequent watering. If you do decide to feed them with water, however, apply it under the root rather than spraying the flower.

To enhance the flowering of the plant, you can feed it with nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer in equal proportions of the listed substances.

Pruning the stems after flowering will improve the appearance of the plant. However, it is worth waiting for the seeds to develop and mature if you want the mallow to self-seed on the plot, or if you plan to collect the material.

How to propagate the flower

If you have grown a large mallow with several shoots sprouting from its base, you can propagate it by dividing it. This is best done in spring when the soil has warmed up and the plant is growing again.

Carefully remove the mallow from the ground and divide it into several parts with well-rooted and blossoming buds. Next, plant the seedling as usual.

You can also propagate mallows by seed. These flowers are very successful self-seeders, but you can collect their seeds and plant them wherever you like. The seeds are ready when they turn brown and are easy to pull out of the box. Store them in a dry jar under a lid in a dark and cool place protected from frost.

To sprout mallows in the spring, place the seeds in a 10 cm pot filled with potting soil and cover the seeds with 0.5 cm of sand. Then water the substrate and cover it with a bag with a few holes for ventilation. The seedlings will sprout in a few weeks.

Previously OBOZREVATEL told how to grow in pots vegetables - tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc.

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