Features of planting levkoy (mattiola) and caring for it in the open field

Bright mattiola (another name for this plant is levkoy) will adorn any flower garden. Timely and correctly carried out planting of Levkoy in open ground and competent care for it will allow you to admire the wonderful flowers and enjoy their aroma throughout the season.

Description of the plant

Levkoy is a small shrub or herbaceous representative of the extensive cruciferous family. This unpretentious plant is often found in flower beds. The average height of Levkoy is from 20 to 80 cm, however, there are “babies” about 15 cm in size and “giants” with a height of under 100 cm. Among the numerous varieties of Levkoy there are plants with a short one- or two-year development cycle, as well as perennials. Matthiola has branchy straight stems and greenish oblong leaves. Simple and double levkoi attract attention with a variety of shades of bright spike-shaped or racemose inflorescences - there are white, yellow and light blue, various shades of pink, purple, red and purple. Flowers come in diameters from 3 to 7 cm. The highlight of mattiola is the amazing aroma that flowers exude in the evening.

Varieties

There are more than six hundred varieties of matthiola. The gray-headed and two-horned levkoi are the most common species.

• Gray levkoy - a plant up to 70 cm high, with a branched lignified stem and numerous inflorescences. Mattiola of this species begins to bloom in June and pleases with violent colors until November.
• Two-horned matthiola, which is called "night violet", attracts not by its appearance, but by its unique night scent. It is a sprawling herb up to 50 cm high with simple lavender flowers.

Terry and simple varieties of matthiola have several differences. Matthiola with regular flowers can be propagated independently by collecting ripe seeds. With terry modifications of the Levkoy, this will not work, they are sterile and do not form seeds. "Shaggy" hybrids are more expensive. They are more difficult to propagate, but they bloom longer and have a more decorative appearance.

It is interesting!

Levkoy seed packets often indicate the coefficient of terry. This indicator determines what percentage of plants will be with double flowers. Mattiola of the same variety can produce different flowers at the same time.

When to sow levka and plant seedlings?

To increase germination, matthiola seeds are pre-soaked in warm water for a day. When they swell, stratification is carried out: the seed is wrapped in a damp cloth and placed in the refrigerator for a day (not in the freezer!). Seeds hardened in this way can be sown.

Seed propagation can be organized in two ways.

Method one: pre-grow seedlings

This method will help to obtain early flowering specimens of matthiola. With such cultivation, work begins from early March to late April.

1. The bottom of small containers with drainage holes is filled with expanded clay or fine gravel.
2. Loose soil is prepared: they take one part of sand, two parts of leafy soil and one part of turf. You can use ready-made soil from specialty stores, choosing soil with neutral acidity. The soil is pre-watered with a weak pale pink solution of potassium permanganate. This is a good prevention of a dangerous fungal disease - black leg, which can lead to the death of young plants.
3. The seeds are deepened by half a centimeter into the moistened soil, observing the interval between adjacent specimens a little more than a centimeter.
4. Containers with matthiola are covered with glass or plastic wrap, kept in the shade at a temperature of about 20 degrees.

The first shoots will appear in about 5 days. After that, the seedlings are placed in a cooler and moderately sunny place, and the glass is removed. Young Levkoi do not like temperatures above 15 degrees. The first watering is carried out three days after the sprouts appear. After half a month, the plants dive into small separate cups, always placing a drainage from expanded clay or fine gravel at the bottom of the container.

When two true leaves appear on young flowers, fertilizing is carried out with mineral fertilizers. In a liter of water, 0.1 g of manganese sulfate and zinc are diluted, 0.3 g of boric acid and copper sulfate are added. At the initial stage of development, the plants are watered moderately, preferably in the morning.

Before planting in open ground, the seedlings must be hardened for about a couple of weeks. Gradually, young seedlings are accustomed to fresh air, constantly increasing the time spent walking at an open window. Planting is carried out in May, in warm regions - in April, when four true leaves appear on the mattiola. Seedlings overexposed in cups take root less well, give less side shoots and flowers. It is best to plant in open ground in cloudy weather or in the evening, so that delicate sprouts do not suffer from sunlight.

Choose a site protected from the wind and diffused sunlight and fertile loose soil. It is important that representatives of the cruciferous family, such as cabbage, horseradish or radish, do not grow in this place last year. The distance between neighboring plants is from 15 to 30 cm, depending on the type of mattiola. The wells are well moistened, after planting they compact the soil.

Advice

You can get levkoi that bloom during the entire summer-autumn period. For this, from the end of February, Matthiola is sown approximately every three weeks. Another option is to use different varieties of this plant for growing from seeds at the same time.

Method two: sow in open ground

This method is best used for early varieties, because it usually takes more than three months from the moment of sowing to the beginning of flowering of matthiola. Levkoy is sown on lawns from the end of April. In this case, the first peduncles will appear only in August.

Advice

You can sow Matthiola outdoors at the end of winter. For this, grooves for plants are prepared in the fall. The seeds are not soaked, but placed at a distance of about 8 cm from each other in prepared holes, covered with dry sand and covered with snow. Amicable shoots appear in May, flowering in such hardened specimens is early and abundant.

Features of care after disembarkation

Levkoi are unpretentious, but prefer sod-loamy or sod-sandy soil, do not grow well on acidic soil. Both a sunny area and partial shade are suitable. The plant needs moderate watering. In dry times, moistening is carried out more often, but irrigation is not abundant. Additional care consists in the timely loosening of the soil. The procedure is carried out carefully, as Levkoy have fragile stems. You also need to regularly remove weeds in the area with matthiola.

• Fertilizer

Levkoi do not need organic feeding. Before planting plants, you can add wood ash to the water for irrigation. Mineral fertilizers are applied to the soil 4 to 8 times per season, depending on the fertility of the soil. It is especially useful to feed with complex phosphorus-potassium fertilizer before flowering - this will increase the number of inflorescences and buds.

• Pests and diseases

Loose soil and the absence of waterlogging are good prevention of fungal diseases.

In dry and hot weather, Levkoi can suffer from attacks by cruciferous flea beetles and other insects.If there are few pests, it is enough to powder the flowers with wood ash powder. In case of a massive attack, insecticides are used, for example, "Aktara" or "Aktellik" according to the instructions.

• Post-flowering care

Matthiola seeds ripen in September or October. The cut off ground part of the plants is dried in a dry and ventilated place, and then small seeds are collected.

Levkoy is usually grown as an annual, but in the southern regions perennial varieties of Mattiola can be preserved. To do this, the ground part is cut off, the plant is covered and mulched. In regions with colder climates, the flower is sometimes dug up before the onset of cold weather and transferred to a warm place for the winter.

Miniature Levkoy varieties can be grown in a pot culture. Plants bloom magnificently in flowerpots all summer and autumn, before the onset of cold weather. If matthiola is transferred to a light windowsill before frost, then at a moderate temperature it will bloom in winter.

Levkoy can become a wonderful decoration for any flower garden. From a wide variety of varieties and hybrids, you can always choose the right plant for the decoration of borders, alpine slides and lawns. Some varieties of this versatile flower are used for cutting and grown in pots. Unpretentiousness, beautiful appearance and wonderful evening aroma help Mattiola to remain popular with flower growers.