The geraniums have bloomed like this. The old gardener is content. Enough to show off for a month.
Today I'll share an old northern gardener's experience caring for geraniums. I hope you all enjoy it.
Location: Northeast China
Time: June 18
A few days ago, the geraniums hadn't fully bloomed yet. These past few days, the little geraniums have all opened up, and even I think they've bloomed quite beautifully. I took some photos to document this year's geraniums.
This year the little geraniums bloomed relatively late. There are reasons for this. One is that spring temperatures were too low, plus strong winds, so they barely grew before May 1. Another is that the little geraniums didn't grow well indoors during winter. The good indoor spots were all reserved for the seedlings, so the little geraniums could only be placed in the corners and edges. It's not surprising they didn't grow well.
In mid-December this year, I repotted the geraniums, earlier than the mid-February repotting of previous years. I didn't notice any advantages. It felt about the same as combining mid-February pinching with repotting. The soil was 3 parts of my homemade nutrient soil plus 1 part perlite. Some were homemade nutrient soil plus half Northeast peat, and I also added a bit of perlite. Comparing the two, the homemade nutrient soil gave slightly better results. This showed in the faster wet-dry cycle of the potting soil, which is more beneficial for the little geraniums' growth. Some of the little geraniums are still in medium-seedling pots up to now, that is, 13-14 cm double-sided pots. They've bloomed now and still haven't been moved. They seem to be growing quite well, needing watering once a day.
Some friends will ask, old gardener, the little geraniums are growing well, what fertilizer did you use? Haha, this year I changed my fertilizing method for the houseplants again. I'm not burying compound fertilizer in the soil anymore. The compound fertilizer I bought at home has been sitting for a long time and has partly dissolved. I thought, burying compound fertilizer in the soil makes the amount too hard to control, and it's troublesome too. I have two large water tanks at home, one on the south side and one on the north side, each holding over 100 liters of water, used for storing water to water the flowers. Before May 1, when temperatures reached above 20°C, I started adding compound fertilizer to the water tanks. At first it was once every 10 days, about 130 grams each time. When temperatures rose a bit more and the flowers looked good, I switched to once every 7 days, alternating compound fertilizer and mud-based nutrient solution. When the flowers were about to bloom, I fertilized once every 5 days. Now it's once every 5 days. This method is mainly convenient, no need to worry about burning the seedlings. In a few days when the weather gets hot, the fertilizer will gradually be reduced, changing to once every 7 days, or even longer.
Seeing the little geraniums blooming merrily, the old gardener's heart is so happy. The first upright Fairy Queen geranium is about to burst into a full pot. How could I not be happy? Last night at 11 PM, I brought 2 pots of my favorite flowers to the living room, looking left and right, couldn't get enough, and even took photos. Then I looked and thought, no good, not pretty, forget it, I'll shoot early tomorrow morning. These were taken this morning.