How to grow and care for a fern in the garden

Ferns in the garden are a beautiful decoration and exotic flavor, despite the fact that the plant has neither flowers nor real leaves. Modern representatives of the fern will become a worthy decor on an alpine lawn, in the root circle of trees, and in any suitable place in the garden area. Planting and caring for a fern is a fairly simple task, and the result will delight you with the refined openwork of green thickets.

Short description

A perennial herbaceous shrub found throughout the country. In appearance, it resembles the fluffy tail of a capercaillie during the mating season. Various types of plants allow to grow a small bush (about 300 mm) with a carved leaf plate, and a large bush, the size of a young tree (0.8-1.5 m), and in nature there are plants that exceed this size.

A plant with a medium-sized branched root system. With a dense stem made of wire fabric. By mistake, the primitive leaf plates (frond) of the fern are considered to be its foliage. Leaf blades form and grow from buds on roots and are composed of a complex system of stems.

Fern seeds (spores) develop and ripen on the plates - this is one of the types of shrub reproduction. Ferns can grow anywhere on the site, even in the shade, the plant will thrive.

Types of garden ferns

It is recommended to plant 6 types of plants:

1. Several varieties of thermophilic Asplenium zoned for planting in the central regions of the country. The best place for settlement is partial shade, here the plant develops well and beautiful "foliage" grows on it from medium-sized rosettes. From early spring to late autumn, the plant does not lose its attractiveness.
2. Undersized bushes woods grow in nature on rocky slopes and even on old walls. With the help of bushes up to 200 mm high, you can decorate a rock garden, which will delight with its beauty for 15-20 years.
3. Bushes kochedyzhnik grow up to 1000 mm. The greenery is renewed on the shrub throughout the season.
4. The most common type ferns - bracken, it is found all over the world. Plantings with triple carved leaves can serve for spring protection of bulbous flowers in early spring. Good garden care ensures rapid growth and proliferation of the shrub. To prevent it from spreading throughout the garden, you will need to fence it in.
5. A bush will become a worthy decoration of a flower garden puremouth, large in size, with a beautiful carved crown. It is recommended to plant it on wet soils.
6. Bubble - An unpretentious type of fern, suitable for an alpine slide in partial shade.

Reproduction methods

The main difference between ferns is that they do not bloom and seeds do not form on them. The only possible methods of reproduction are spores and the vegetative method. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Controversy

This is not the easiest, but popular method among summer residents. In the wild, shrubs reproduce in this way. Planting material can be collected in the forest or from neighbors, or bought at a garden store:

1. We begin to harvest spores for planting in the spring. We examine the back of the sheet plate. When small bumps are found, colored in a dark color, we proceed to collecting spores. To do this, we cut off parts of the leaf plates with tubercles with a sharp knife.We put them in a paper bag and leave them until the foliage dries.
2. In winter, collect brown dust particles from bags. For planting, you will need to prepare small boxes. Pour a drainage layer down and fill the containers with a mixture of equal shares of humus, sand and peat.
3. We moisten the soil from the sprayer and spread the pollen in an even layer over the entire surface of the soil. It is not necessary to cover the spores with soil. From the sprayer we moisten the ground a little more and wrap the box in a bag or covering material.
4. After 30 days, the first "shoots" begin to break through, at this time we remove the package. The sprouts that have sprouted resemble a carpet of moss. Every day, we moisten the soil a little.
5. When the female and male species of sprouts begin to combine, we transplant them into separate containers and grow them until constant heat is established in the spring and the soil warms up.

Dividing the bush

This is how the ostrich and bracken bushes settle. Work should be started when positive temperatures are established after winter:

• among the growing bushes, we choose a fern with thick and strong rosettes (we go to the woods for harvesting or ask our neighbors);
• stepping back from the bush, carefully dig it out of the ground, trying not to damage the roots;
• when we come home we wash the fern with warm water;
• we divide the bush into separate parts, trying to have at least 3 buds and intact roots in each.

It remains to plant ready-made plants in the garden.

Important! You can not delay the transplant of bushes. If the roots dry out, the survival rate of the plants will drop sharply.

Root layers (whiskers)

In this way, ferns are propagated, in which antennae grow, for example, sublime nephrolepis. Work begins in early spring. We lay the layers in a shallow trench dug and slightly cut from the bottom side. We water the trench when the sprouts break through, feed it with ash or any complex fertilizer (but this is not necessary).

The sprouts have grown stronger, which means that you need to dig out a place with a cut mustache and disconnect it completely from the mother bush. This gives an impetus to the development of the seedlings' own root system. We plant strong shoots in a permanent place (after the established heat).

There is one more method of reproduction - by budding. But it is quite long and complex and is only suitable for a few types of plants. Kidneys are used: they are carefully cut off, planted in sphagnum moss and covered with covering material or glass jars. After 25-30 days, the sprouts are planted in place.

Preparing for landing

It is important to treat these works with full responsibility, despite the apparent simplicity.

A place

The possibility of rapid development and growth of a young bush and an adult plant depends on the site. Therefore, it is important to follow a few simple rules:

• illumination level: for ferns of all types, the best option is a bed in partial shade, with the sun's rays making its way. It is acceptable to plant plants in the shade of an adult deciduous tree; the north side of farm buildings or other buildings is suitable for seedlings;
• wind: it is not recommended to equip a flower garden in a place with constantly blowing winds or drafts;
• humidity: good conditions for growth will be provided by planting on the shaded shores of a pond or pool;
• composition and type of soil: when planting in wetlands and heavy soils, you will need to dig a deep hole and fill the bottom with expanded clay or just broken brick. Fern likes moist soil, but without excess water under the roots. Otherwise, the fern will grow well on almost any soil.

Advice! You can create a rock garden or plant plants where a thick tree is cut.

When preparing the place, be sure to fence the area with slate or boards. If this work is not done, the bushes will quickly fill the entire place in the flower garden, oppressing weak, undersized flowers.

Planting material

When choosing a location, it is important to decide on the type of fern that you plan to plant on the site.If you plan to decorate an alpine slide or rockery, it is better to plant undersized species. But for equipping the central part with a sculptural composition or just a beautiful plant, we recommend planting tall species.

If you decide to purchase ready-made fern saplings, you should not do it at spontaneous markets or from street vendors. Such purchases are often disappointing. If you take it, then only in specialized garden markets, with verification of all documents for plants.

When buying, be sure to pay attention to the condition of the wai and their color. There should be no stains or even minor damage. It is better to buy bushes with the same size of dense and juicy "foliage".

And the ideal option is to simply go to the nearby forest, dig out a strong bush and divide it into 4-5 sprouts ready for planting.

Landing

Since the fern loves warmth, it is necessary to move the seedlings into the open ground after warm weather has established and the risk of recurrent frosts has passed.

Step-by-step instructions for planting a fern:

• we prepare the planting holes, their size in width and depth should be three times larger than the dimensions of the bush and its roots;
• leaves a distance between plants and to nearby flowers - at least 300 mm. It is especially important to maintain this size when planting tall fern species;
• fill the holes with water, let it soak;
• pour a thin layer of expanded clay and sand to the bottom;
• we mix the same amount of the upper fertile soil layer from the garden bed, peat and humus, fill the holes with this soil to half the depth;
• we place a bush in the middle of the hole and fill it with soil in small portions to the top of the hole. Periodically we pull up the bush to form cavities with air and loose soil under the roots;
• We compact the top of the earth a little for a stable position of the bush and fill it with a layer of mulch to the top of the hole.

Rules for the care of adult plants

These works will not cause particular difficulties even for beginners, but it is imperative to know and perform the main ones.

Watering and loosening the soil

This is the main condition for the growth and development of a beautiful bush. Oxygen and nutrition must always be supplied to the roots, so the soil must be moist and loose. You should not water the bushes often and abundantly. Only in the first days of growth is it important to moisten the soil with a little water daily. After ferns have taken root, watering is necessary only during dry periods.

From time to time, you will need to add a layer of mulch using peat, old sawdust or sunflower seed husks. Adding a layer of spruce needles under the fern bushes will make the atmosphere in the garden pleasant.

Top dressing

The introduction of a large amount of mineral and organic fertilizers under the fern is not required. During the period of active development of the bushes, it is allowed to apply foliar feeding by sprinkling the bushes with ready-made complex fertilizers with growth enhancers. In the pre-winter period, the fern is treated with copper sulfate and the tree-trunk circle is covered with wood ash with the addition of a small amount of organic matter.

Perennial update

After the first two years of the life of the bushes, it will be necessary to remove old leaf plates, damaged or weakened rosettes. Such work is repeated once a year and is carried out after wintering, in early spring. Pruning allows not only to significantly rejuvenate the bushes, but also to prepare planting material.

Another manipulation necessary for the normal growth and development of ferns is the preparation of plants for wintering. To do this, we cover the bushes with a layer of straw or mown grass and wrap them with covering material. Such work will preserve the bushes in snowless winters with severe frosts.

Ferns are one of the oldest plants on earth, they survived in conditions that are difficult for us to imagine. And yet, minimal fern care is needed. Thanks to her, the bushes will delight you with rich greenery and a dense openwork crown.