Carnation is a very popular and easy to grow plant that many appreciate as a cut flower and others as a garden plant. With its abundant bloom and delicate fragrance, it adorns our gardens, balconies, and terraces with its colorful flowers all summer long.
In this way, if you want to fill your garden with carnations, choose the variety you like best and learn how to grow and care for carnations so you can see them bloom soon.
Specific Requirements
Let’s now go on to know the points to consider so that our Carnations develop healthily:
- Soil: You must control all the factors of the terrain to ensure its flowering. Plow the ground and combine it with sand, compost, and natural fertilizer. With liquid fertilizer, spray the area and mix all the ingredients to create a substrate full of nutrients. Do not plant them in just any terrain; you will risk that their bouquets will be very poor.
- Space: In the same way, you have to plant them in a place where only Carnations grow. They are sensitive to specific plants that end up stealing nutrients from the soil. If you have them all in one area, they will get along very well. In addition, this will help to help the harmony of your garden.
- Light: Arrange a place where they receive direct and constant sunlight. If possible, choose an area where they will be given all day. The more light they receive, the more flowers they will produce when their bouquets begin to sprout.
- Temperature: One of the significant characteristics of carnation is its resistance to cold. It can withstand a minimum temperature of -10 degrees celsius in the cold season and a maximum of 45 degrees celsius in summer, although the ideal temperature range is between 15 and 35 degrees in the sun.
Planting
Now that we have taken the necessary notes, let’s continue with its planting: Once you have plowed the land very well, water it superficially without flooding it. This will make it easier for us to dig as many holes as we have acquired shoots. At this point, you should buy those that by themselves have not yet produced their first flowers. Avoid those with many leaves and opt, instead, with those that do not have more than 5 of them.
The holes should be dug at least 15 centimeters apart. Although they are good neighbors with their species, they should have their space to develop. Do not dig the holes too deep, just deep enough for their roots to fit, and, at the same time, do not cover more than 3 centimeters of the main stem of the bush.
Carnation Maintenance
Although Carnations can successfully fend for themselves, it doesn’t hurt to provide them with a series of maintenance that will help them grow faster and more vigorously. Make some time in your day to day life to care for them as follows:
- Irrigation: At first, we should only water them once every 2 days. After the first 3 months, we can proceed to water them daily. Avoid watering the flowers and leaves and concentrate on the area of the soil where they are planted.
- Fertilization: During the first 3 years of life, we must pay them 2 times a year. This way, we will make sure to stimulate its flowering process. Choose, if possible, those that contain a high acid content in their PH.
- Pruning: You should not prune them before they bloom. If it is a couple of years before this, you will still have to wait. Once they have bloomed, you can prune them twice a year by removing any unwanted-looking segments.
- Shoots transplantation: You can take as many shoots as you want when they begin to sprout. Even if they are only an inch long, rest assured that these will stick. Just leave them overnight before planting them in a container of water and transplanting them early in the morning.
- Multiplication: The simplicity of carnation propagation is another positive aspect of this type of evergreen plant. There are several ways to obtain new carnation plants: through the division of tufts, cutting, and sowing.
Although carnations are not hard to grow, there is some care that we must have and consider because the better the care of the carnation, the better the growth of this beautiful flower will be. Carnations are ideal for those who love gardening who don’t have much time to maintain them due to the daily hustle and bustle.
Planting Carnations can be a fun experience, so put on your knickers, boots, and hat and enjoy growing them.
