If he is a perfect plant for shady and humid areas of the garden, it is the Fern. With its large graphic fronds of rare elegance, it brings a lush and vaporous touch to an aquatic garden, a rockery, embankments and undergrowth. There are a huge number of species of ferns, environ 13 000, which makes it possible to vegetate its shaded corners at leisure and to play as much on shapes as on colors. For enjoy their beauty year after yearremains to install its ferns in the right place, to plant them at the ideal time and in the rules of the art.
Where to plant ferns?
Ferns don’t like drafts and can’t stand the scorching sun, which quickly deteriorates their fronds (this is what the leaves of a fern are called). In the wild, these perennial plant grow in low sun and cool areas. In the garden, they are therefore installed in partial shade or in the shade, even in the darkest corners, and imperatively wherever freshness lingers.
They like damp corners as well as sols riches, fresh and sour. Experienced gardeners emphasize the importance of soil acidity for these plants, without which they could not develop. It is also important to provide them with porous and light earth. This is the typical portrait of undergrowth land which are perfect for all ferns.
If the garden soil in which you want to plant ferns does not have all these characteristics, there is still a way to grow these plants. You just need make your own mix so that it is as suitable as possible. Ideally, it should consist of:
- Free land,
- Sable,
- Heathland,
- Compost.
This type of soil allows ferns to grow well.
When to plant ferns in the garden?
It is preferably during the second half of spring plant ferns in the garden. At this time of year, in many of our regions, the spring sun has already begun to warm the earth, which is favorable to the recovery of these plants.
It is certainly possible to plant ferns in fallmost only in a mild climate because the clumps newly installed in the ground should not suffer the first frosts to which only very hardy species are able to adapt. Be careful, therefore, to be well informed about the hardiness of fern species that you want to grow if you plan to plant in October or November.
How to plant ferns?
Before planting a fern, it is important to follow the steps following.
- Prepare the soil well because it must be:
- Worked enough to be loosened: it is therefore necessary to dig and break up the clods.
- Well-draining: if the garden soil tends to heavy and compactit is necessary to add coarse sand in order to promote drainage.
- Humiferous: this promotes microbial activity and therefore makes the richer soil. You can incorporate manure to the soil, for example, in order to enrich the soil with organic matter. The improvement of the soil structure is also possible with a contribution of mature compost which is perfect for ferns as well as green manures Besides.
- Hydrate the root ball. To do this, simply immerse it in a bucket of water for 5 minutes.
- Dig a hole larger than the clod and place one or two shovelfuls of well-worked soil at the bottom.
- Place the fern in the hole, making sure the top of the root ball is level with the ground.
- Plug the hole.
- Pack all around the foot.
- Water.
- Mulch.
The mulch is important for preserve the freshness of the soil and limit watering. One can for example use dead leaves or even the dry fronds of other ferns which constitute a material of choice.
Ferns are easy-going plants because they do not require special care as long as they are installed in an environment which is favorable to them and that the planting takes place at the right time. We preserve the beauty of the tufts by removing of course the faded parts and we protect the least hardy species with a good layer of mulch that will allow them to spend the winter protected from frost.
Thanks to his few attentions, the gardener will be pleased over time to see his ferns prosper which, each spring, will unfold their new slingshots which are called the crosses. He will thus have the proof that his ferns feel good where they are.