Growing from seeds a ground cover "snow carpet"

Groundcover plants are prized for their unique ability to beautify unsightly areas on the property. It is not for nothing that a perennial yaskolka is often called a snow carpet. Its rhizomes quickly take root and spread, making it possible for more and more new flowers to appear.

Description

Chickweed from the Carnation family is gaining popularity due to the ease of cultivation and the picturesque clumps it creates in the garden. A low herbaceous plant rises only 20-30 cm. The root is well branched, in search of moisture it penetrates deep into the ground, easily captures the territory. The leaves are small, oblong, can be dark green or silvery. The flowers are small, up to 1.5-2 cm in diameter, with five snow-white petals, as if cut in the middle, and with a light yellow center. The flowers are numerous, located at the top of the stem, therefore, when full bloom, the chrysalis is compared to a snow carpet with a silvery-green tint. Flowering begins with the establishment of warm weather, from mid or late May - early June, and lasts about a month, until July.

Chopped carpet can be trimmed in early spring for more luxurious plants.

Types of chives

Chickweed is considered a weed because of its ability to quickly invade new territories and displace other plants. Of the approximately 200 species that grow in temperate climates, only a few of the most graceful are used in culture.

• Field chickweed grows up to 30-45 cm.
• The white lamb rises to 60 cm and more. It makes an interesting impression thanks to the silvery leaves and the splendor of the bush, which easily takes root on sandy soils in sunny places.
• Yaskolka felt was one of the first to enter the culture, it is found in the mountainous areas of Europe. The plant is low - up to 20 cm, with pubescent silvery-gray stems and narrow leaves. Small flowers, up to one and a half centimeters, open throughout the warm season.
• Yaskolka Biberstein is undersized, blooms in May, is considered a relic of the Crimean plateaus, and is listed in the Red Book. The leaves are pubescent, gray-silvery. A very decorative variety.

Application in the garden landscape

The groundcover captivates with its unassuming and simplicity, as well as the magnificent white spots on the background of greenery that it creates during flowering.

• The crisp snowy carpet of chippings looks amazing next to the undersized flowering plants in blues and pinks.
• Planting a sun-loving plant in rock gardens and in other landscape compositions associated with the use of stones is popular.
• Covers slopes well, suitable for curbs, flower beds.
• Yaskolka is also grown in containers on balconies and terraces.

Annually the shrub bush spreads up to half a meter.

Reproduction

The plant is easy to propagate by dividing the bush, cutting cuttings or growing from seeds. Gardeners warn that chickweed grows up for a long time and rather poorly.

By division

In early spring, when the bushes grow, they are dug up, separated and planted separately at a distance of 25-30 cm from each other. When carefully removed with a lump of earth, the delenki take root without problems.

By cuttings

In spring or at the end of June, fragments of stems without peduncles are cut. The bottom sections are placed in a solution of a rooting stimulator in accordance with the instructions. Then they are planted directly on the site, choosing a shaded place. You can also place the cuttings in a container with a substrate of sand and turf, which is kept moderately moist.Above the container with cuttings, you must install a transparent plastic or polyethylene cap to create a mini-greenhouse. The same structure can be built over cuttings growing in the ground.

Seeds

The chickweed is sown in a permanent place in the fall or spring. A hardy plant will multiply with autumn sowing in October or November. Shoots will appear with the establishment of warm weather. Spring sowing in the soil is carried out in April - the seeds are placed at a distance of 20-25 cm, lightly sprinkled with soil and watered if the soil is dry.

To get seedlings, seeds are sown in April or early May.

1. Seeds are placed one at a time in a pot with a substrate of turf and sand, taken equally. Cover the pots with foil or glass.
2. For germination, the temperature must be maintained at 22-23 ° C.
3. Water no more than 2 times a week or spray the soil.
4. Shoots appear in 10-20 days. The pots are kept on a light windowsill, moderately moisturize the substrate.
5. Sprouts are planted when the threat of frost passes.

When grown from seeds, chickweed blooms after two years.

How to choose a site?

Yaskolka opens its snow carpet without much effort on the part of the grower. You just need to choose the best place for planting a modest in appearance, but with powerful roots, a ground cover.

• An area where the sun stays for a long time is suitable for planting.
• Yaskolka grows on almost any soil except clay and waterlogged.
• To improve heavy soil, sand is added and drainage is taken care of.

Growing

Caring for the chowder can be episodic, so the plant is suitable for summer residents who come to the site once a week. The flower almost does not need feeding, it is content with rare watering, but young shoots can suffer from the invasion of fast-growing weeds.

• The soil is loosened and made sure that the weeds do not oppress the tender sprouts in the spring.
• Watering the shrub is enough once every 6-7 days.
• When watering, do not use sprinkling even in spring, when there are no flowers yet - delicate pubescent leaves on the lower parts of the plant stems may suffer.
• They are fed with mineral complexes for flowers or organomineral fertilizers.
• Top dressing is carried out 10-15 days after planting and when the plants enter the flowering phase.
• Once every 6 years, the yaskolka is transplanted to a new place. They begin to plant fragments of rhizomes already in the fourth year of growth in order to dilute the bush more.

Yaskolka is not affected by diseases and pests. You just need to follow the advice on planting it and choosing a place.

Pruning

The decorativeness of the white rug of the chisel requires little care.

• To preserve its fresh shade, peduncles with fading flowers are regularly cut off.
• For the best view, overwintered bushes are pruned low to get more stems and lush flowering.
• If the plant has spread too much, the stems are pruned in the summer, but such pruning can cause a second wave of flowering.

They tame the aggressive behavior of the chickweed, capturing new territories, cutting off widely overgrown roots with a shovel.

It is not necessary to prepare chickweed for winter: the plant is reliably preserved under the snow. In areas where frosts are combined with snowless winters, the bushes are covered with spruce branches, last year's straw, in which mice do not start, and other improvised material, cutting off the stems to 2-3 cm.

A cute groundcover will create a nice, effortless look in your garden. And caring for him is not difficult.