Top growing tips for perfect annuals

By Melanie Mathieson
Gardening Guru

•Start with Healthy Plants
As you can be easily distracted in the nursery when there are blankets of colourful flowers in bloom, take a thorough look at your selection of annuals before you buy them. Make sure you take the time to inspect each container as you chose it to ensure the leaves and stems are all healthy, and there are no signs wilt, discolouration in the leaves, diseases pests or poor care. Also ensure when you are buying containers with multiple plants that all the holes have a healthy seeding in them.
•Wait Until the Weather is Right
After a long winter, gardeners can get really impatient waiting for the correct time to get started in the garden. While there are many tasks and even some planting that can be done early in the season, annuals are a little more sensitive to spring weather. You will have far more success with your annuals if you wait until the soil and weather are warm enough to suit the growing needs of the particular annuals you intend to plant. Check a good gardening book or the internet for this information specific to the annual species you have chosen to plant.
•Proper Watering
Proper watering techniques of your annuals both before and after they are planted are keys to strong and healthy plants throughout the season. Never underestimate the amount of water your seedlings need while they are still in their nursery pot/container. The smaller the pot the more frequently they need to be watered. Small pots hold very little soil and when you have a small seedling growing a mass of roots, there is very little room left for water to be retained in the pot. If the weather is very warm or you have the seedlings positioned in the full sun, you may have to water thoroughly two to three times a day to ensure that the seedlings do not dry out. Once planted, your seedlings will still require frequent watering for a couple of weeks after planting to allow the roots to establish. The key here is to keep the soil moist but not soggy in their containers and during the first few weeks of planting. Once established, make sure your annuals receive at least an inch of good solid watering a week, more if the weather is really hot and dry.
•Take Care When Planting your Seedlings
When planting time arrives, make sure you handle your seedlings with care when removing them from the pot, separating tangled roots and placing them in their planting hole. The goal here is to minimize root shock. Be a gentle as possible to ensure your seedlings begin growing in their new location as soon as possible. A watering with root stimulating fertilizer after planting or sprinkling some bone meal in the planting hole prior to inserting the seedling is a good idea.
•Pinch Back after Planting
Sometimes when you buy annual seedlings they are already starting to bloom. Although it is very exciting to have flowers and colour in your garden, you really should remove the blossoms and newly forming buds. By doing this, you prevent the seedling from putting all of its energy into producing flowers when it should be developing new roots in order to establish itself. Directing the energy in to root growth in the beginning will pay off in the long run with more prolific and longer lasting blooms. You can trim back the buds and blossoms either by pinching off with your fingers or trimming carefully with pruners or scissors. Also keep an eye out for lanky shoots or weak growth and trim this back too. Pinching back at the beginning of the planting will provide you with bushier plants for the rest of the season.
•Deadheading Keeps the Blossoms Coming
Many annual flower species need to have their spent flowers removed in order to promote continuous production of new blooms. A little time spent each day or every couple of days taking off the spent blooms, will force the plant into producing more blooms and extend your flowering season. If you can’t deadhead on a regular basis, make sure you take off the spent blooms before they start to set seed as often as you can, If you allow the plant to divert its energy into seed production, flower production will stop and force the plant to move into its next stage of its life cycle.

•Don’t Forget to Fertilize
Because annuals grow quickly and bloom profusely, they require a regular fertilizing regime. Choose either a granular slow-release fertilizer that you can apply to the top of the soil once planted or water soluble powder you mix and apply with regular watering. There are advantages to each type of fertilizer. With the slow release type you just apply and forget it until it is needed again. Instructions for managing a fertilizer regime for your annuals should be detailed on the label. With a water soluble powder, although applied more often with the watering process, can be custom mixed to suit your needs. No matter which type you pick just remember the two most important things:
Look for a formula with a higher middle number (i.e. 10-30-10) as phosphorus is important for root growth and flower production.

Read and compare the labels carefully to determine how much of the product you need to use. The smaller volume of fertilizer that you use per application means that the actual nutrient contents in the product is more concentrated and has less fillers. This is the one you want to buy as it is the most economical.

Follow these tips and you should have a colourful summer filled with annuals.