Honeysuckle is a favorite berry shrub of many gardeners. The fact is that its berries are very useful and ripen early, when tiny ovaries are just beginning to pour in strawberries, currants and gooseberries. This is an unpretentious shrub that can grow on almost any type of soil, it is not afraid of spring frosts, even flowers easily tolerate negative temperatures. Growing honeysuckle is not a laborious process at all, it is an excellent culture for a novice gardener.

How to choose varieties of honeysuckle

Usually at least two varieties of honeysuckle are planted on the site. This is essential for good pollination. Pay attention to the characteristics of each. The most important properties cannot be ignored.

Winter hardiness is the basis of choice. Plants that can overwinter in your climate will delight you with a harvest or beautiful flowering. The best varieties for cold climates are Leningrad Giant, Duet, Indigo Jam, Kamchadalka. Ornamental varieties can also boast of endurance. This is Hekrotta American Beauty, Hols Prolific, Elegant.

Productivity is an important indicator, it can differ by 2-3 times for different varieties. For honeysuckle, there is another nuance. The taste of the berries is very different. They can be sweet, sour, with a slight bitter aftertaste. Not the most productive variety may have dessert-flavored fruits. The choice is very large, each person has his own preferences, so you can find a balance between the taste of berries and their quantity. The most productive varieties: Honey Blue, Slastena, Iolanta. The sweetest: Sorceress, Siberian, Bakchar giant.

All varieties of edible honeysuckle give berries that make delicious jam, they perfectly retain their medicinal properties when frozen, and most importantly, they help to get the first natural vitamins of the season in such a volume. Their most important property is the ability to raise hemoglobin and significantly increase immunity.

Planting honeysuckle in spring in open ground

In spring, it is better to buy honeysuckle seedlings with a closed root system, these are the ones you will find in our online store. They can be planted at any time. The plant is transferred with a clod of earth to a permanent place, where after 3 weeks it grows new roots.

Early awakening with the advent of heat does not allow replanting a dormant bush, so it is better to plant seedlings with an open root system in early spring or autumn after leaf fall, when the bush is at rest.

When choosing a site, keep in mind that honeysuckle does not tolerate standing groundwater closer than 1 meter to the surface. Therefore, refuse to plant in such areas or plant shrubs on small hills.

For fruit varieties, a sunny area or partial shade is suitable, for decorative requirements they differ, carefully study the description of the variety.

The soil can be any, but honeysuckle does not grow well on sand. It will require the introduction of a large amount of organic matter. In this case, you need to ensure that the soil does not become too acidic. Ideal pH values ​​are 5.5-6.5. In case of deviation of indicators a month before planting, apply 200 grams of lime per 1 square meter of soil.

For planting, you need a hole measuring 40 * 40 * 40. In each, add 2 buckets of compost or humus, on a sandy area 50 grams of superphosphate and 1 kg of ash. Mix all the ingredients with the top fertile layer. Remove all weed roots first.

If the seedling does not have twisted roots, transfer it to a prepared hole with a clod of earth. If the roots are twisted or a seedling with an open root system, make a mound in the center of the pit on which the seedling will be located, and spread the roots along the slopes. Cover everything with earth. For ease of watering, leave a rim of 2-3 cm.

After planting and abundant watering, mulch the surface with peat or sawdust. This will help get rid of weeds and retain precious moisture.

Immediately after planting, only sanitary pruning of honeysuckle is needed; in the spring, cut off dry and broken branches from the seedling.

How to feed honeysuckle in spring for a good harvest

In early spring, when the snow has not completely melted, apply nitrogen fertilizers, a little later organic. It can be an infusion of rotted mullein or peat-humic fertilizers. Re-mulching with a layer of rotted horse manure or peat will not interfere.

Later, an ash solution is sufficient with a frequency of 1 time per month, starting from flowering. If your site has poor soil, water with a solution of complex fertilizers twice. At the beginning of flowering and in August.

Weed regularly, especially under young plants. At the same time, try not to damage the superficial roots, they are located very close.

Pruning is carried out in the fall, after leaf fall. It is necessary to remove dry branches and those that grow inside the bush.

Growing edible honeysuckle differs little from growing decorative, only creepers have their own specifics, which depend on the variety.

Growing honeysuckle cuttings in spring

The easiest way to propagate honeysuckle is to root lignified cuttings. This method is possible only at a time when there are no leaves on the bush. There are three times for harvesting cuttings:

At the end of winter — cut cuttings 12-15 cm long from a large healthy bush with delicious berries. Put them in a solution of a root growth stimulator according to the instructions, then plant them in containers with loose nutrient soil so that 3-4 cm remain above the surface. Watch the soil moisture.

In the spring — when the snow melts, cut the cuttings and put them in a plastic bag. Place it in the refrigerator or dig it into the snow until the ground thaws. Before planting in the garden, update the sections and treat with Kornevin. Planting pattern 5×5 cm. In autumn, rooted cuttings can be transplanted to a permanent place.

In autumn — after leaf fall, plant cuttings in a similar way, but for the winter it is better to cover them with a layer of peat. The buds on the cuttings will wake up only in the spring.

During rooting, it is important to ensure that the soil never dries out. The yield of seedlings is about 30%, so it is better to plant cuttings with a large margin.

Growing honeysuckle from seeds

The method is very simple, but time consuming. In summer, when the berries are quite ripe, some of them can be used to grow new bushes. New plants will be different from the bush from which the fruits were harvested. Honeysuckle is cross-pollinated, all of its seeds produce hybrid plants.

Spread the most ripe berries in the sun so that they wilt slightly in a couple of days. After that, the berries themselves, and not the seeds, are sown at a distance of 10 cm in a row and 15 cm between rows. In summer, shoots do not have to wait. Seeds need long-term stratification, so they will sprout only in the spring. If necessary, they need to be thinned out. Transfer seedlings to a permanent place at the age of 2-3 years.

Plant honeysuckle — this is a source of vitamin and tasty berries that give vigor, youth and health! If you have not yet grown this crop, be sure to plant it, the climate of Belarus is perfect for it. But what else needs to be done for a good harvest of honeysuckle, we will tell in the next article.