Late autumn is fading; the scent of fallen leaves fills the air, and the last chrysanthemum still sways proudly. Now is the time to decide which seeds to buy, plan your garden beds, and stock up on fertilizer.
Creating a planting plan for a small plot can be challenging. Avoid planting the same species in the same spot year after year — change your plan annually.
Before planting tulip bulbs, inspect them carefully. To fight gray mold, try this: crush 4–5 cloves of garlic and soak them in 1 liter of water. Soak the tulip bulbs in this solution for about an hour. Then use a sharp knife to cut away any affected areas, taking care not to remove more than one-third of the bulb. Wipe the cut with a cloth soaked in the garlic solution and let the bulb dry thoroughly. Finally, coat the cut with a splash of cologne and dip it in paraffin.
To speed up gladiolus propagation, plant the corms with the basal plate up or on their side; this encourages more cormels. Make a garlic infusion by grinding 40–50 grams of garlic in a meat grinder and steeping it for a day in 10 liters of water, then water the soil with that solution to reduce disease.
Plant garlic among your flowers to help prevent powdery mildew and Fusarium wilt. Garlic also helps protect strawberry plants from disease.
Under tree canopies, sow forget-me-nots; they will thrive there. In areas that get afternoon sun or are fully shaded, plant daffodils, Iberis, primroses, astilbes, and fragrant tobacco.
Peonies can remain happily in the same spot for 15 to 20 years, so plant them 70–80 cm apart. To encourage larger blooms, thin the shoots and pinch off the side buds.
Protect plants from small insects by spraying a daily infusion of onion or garlic with added red pepper at a rate of 1 teaspoon per cup of water.
To extend the bloom period of phlox, cut half of the new shoots. Cutting those shoots encourages side shoots on the rooted plants, and those side shoots will bloom after the main flush.
When cutting tulips, leave at least two leaves so the bulb left in the ground can develop properly.
The best time to plant tulips is from mid-September to October 10.
To encourage bulb enlargement and production of cormels in tulips and daffodils, cut the flower stems short but leave the leaves. These bulbs can remain productive in the same spot for 4–5 years. If you notice an unusual color on the petals, that can signal a viral disease in the tulips; cut those flowers away and treat the bulbs with a potassium permanganate solution (pink in color).
