Rule n° 1
Annuals : your young annual plants fear frost. Protect them against frost in spring with a hibernation cover while they are rooting. Use this cover also for the flower boxes on your balcony or in the garden and for your flowerbeds.
Biennials and perennials: they really need a cold period to flower well. Keep them outside and if there are prolonged cold waves, protect them with a bed of straw or a hibernation cover.
Rule n° 2
After planting the young plants you have to water them abundantly in order to bring the roots in contact with the substratum (soil or mould). Don’t drown your plants with a surplus of water afterwards.
Rule n° 3
Distrust cheap mould of an unknown brand !
Chooselight multi-purpose mould.
Rule n° 4
Be on your guard against snail attacks during the first 4 weeks. Those molluscs will devour your young sprouts.
Rule n° 5
Have the courage to remove the first buds. Your plants won’t wear themselves out in too early flowering and they will even be more floriferous afterwards.
Rule n° 6
Remove the wilted flowers regularly in order to avoid seed production and to stimulate continuous flowering.
Rule n° 7
Fertilizing is essential to achieve nice flowering. In the flower boxes in your garden or on your balcony there is a limited quantity of mould; the plants entirely depend on the regular application of nutriments. Lest you forget , you should use a fertilizer with programmed release, of the Osmocote type.
Rule n° 8
For your flowerbeds you should add some compost or any other kind of decomposed humus, especially when your soil is clayey or sandy.
Till the soil neatly on about
Rule n° 9
During heat waves you have to water the flower stems in the morning or in the evening. Avoid sprinkling as this weakens new petals and leaves.
Rule n° 10
Pinch the unsightly stems in order to obtain more compact, harmonious and floriferous plants.
