During the summer, everyone wants to have a beautiful and colorful garden or balcony. However, many people ask themselves how often to water their plants in order to enjoy them throughout the vacation season and even longer.
The vacations are the peak season. During this time, most flowers and other plants are growing and blooming, so they need more nutrient fertilizers. During the summer, make sure your flowers get the right amount of moisture so they stay fresh and the stems continue to grow abundantly
If you decide to plant plants on your balcony, pay attention to the conditions there. Depending on the amount of light you get, choose the right plants. Flowers such as geraniums, petunias, schizoids and sanwitalia can grow in a sunny position. On the other hand, tuberous begonias, ivies, fuchsias and impatiens like shady places
The next step is to choose suitable pots; wicker baskets and wooden boxes lined with foil are excellent choices. They are large and hold more soil, so they retain moisture for longer. During the first 2 to 3 weeks after planting the plants are rooted and only need regular watering. This is usually done in the early morning or late evening in summer because the water does not evaporate too quickly then. Later, it is worth adding fertiliser to the watering, because the flowers only have a small amount of substrate at their disposal and the minerals in this substrate are quickly exhausted.
The best water for watering plants is rainwater, boiled and cooled water and tap water. When watering plants with tap water, pay attention to whether it is not too hard. However, it is worth knowing that such water is needed by flowers that like an acid reaction of the soil. Do not forget to water flowers even if it rains. Plants that are bushy when it rains usually only have wet leaves because the water bounces off them and doesn’t fall into the pot
It is important to know that some plants need much more water, and these are the holiday flowers surfinias and geraniums. When watering flowers, you need to do it slowly so that the water can soak well into the soil and seep out through the holes in the pots. If it stays on the saucers for more than half an hour, it’s a sign that the soil is properly moistened and the remaining water should be thrown away. It is not allowed to water the plants too much or to overwater them, in such a situation the flowers will start to rot and this is an irreversible process
In a situation where you don’t have a kind neighbor around you to whom you can entrust the watering of flowers, there is another way to solve this problem. Mix the soil in which your flowers grow with hydrogel. Its granules have the task of absorbing a large amount of water, and then swell and, depending on the needs, give it back gradually to the roots of plants. Thanks to this solution, the substrate retains moisture for a longer time. Zeolite works in a very similar way; it also collects excess water and gives it back to the plants when it senses dry soil. However, you should pay attention to the upcoming weather, because if cooler days come and you use hydrogel, you need to reduce watering. It may then happen that the soil is too moist, which leads to rotting
Balcony flowers in particular grow very quickly and bloom profusely, so their nutritional requirements are much higher. There is a wide range of fertilizers for balcony plants which provide them with the necessary nutrients. For most flowers, liquid compound fertilisers are a good choice. They are easy to apply and contain an optimal amount of macro and micronutrients
During the vacation season it is a good idea to choose fertilizers which can be given to the plants once or twice a season. Fertilizers are very easy to use because you can add a specific amount of it to the water at watering time according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Remember to water and fertilize your flowers according to the individual needs of the species.
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