Many of us know this pleasant drinking and refreshing citrus fragrance Melissa. The people of Melissa are also called lemon mint. Thanks to its useful and gingerbread properties, grass is used in cooking and medicine. If you do not have a cottage, but there is a desire to enjoy all the delights of this plant, you can try to grow Melissa at home.
Is it possible to grow Melissa on the windowsill
Lemon Melissa grows well as in open soiland in pots. When growing, melissa houses of the bushes reach a height of 25-30 cm. Regular trimming Promotes the growing bushes. All that is required from us is just to choose a sunny window sill, cook good sad And to water correctly.
Did you know? The plant was called Melissa in honor of the ancient Greek nymph - the patroness of beekeeping.
What conditions are needed in the room for comfortable growth of Melissa
Let's figure it out what is the care of Melissa at home. Success in growing lemon lemon waiting for those who will adhere to simple rules on the content of plants.
Lighting for Melissa
Before growing Melissa at home, it is necessary to take into account the fact that this is a light-loving plant. Place it better on window sills with good illumination.It will not disappear from the lack of light, but also grow lush bush. With a shortage of light in winter it is better to install artificial lighting. A good effect gives fluorescent lamps when illuminated 8-10 hours per day. It is how the bush is guaranteed not only the increase, but also seeds. 
Humidity and temperature regime for the plant
Since Melissa is more a street plant than a room, she needs to create certain conditions for comfortable growth. Melissa loves very much wet airTherefore, in the room the humidity should be at least 65%. In order for the leaves not to lose juits in summer timeThe bushes are irrigated using a spray gun. To the temperatures of Melissa unpretentious. IN autumn-winter period It calms over the temperature +15 ... + 18 ºC. Melissa - a plant moisture-loving, and high temperatures Always affect its development. The temperature range is optimal for it +18 ... + 24 ºC.
What should be soil for indoor melissa
To grow a plant of Melissa at home, you can use a substrate specially bought in the store or prepare the ground yourself. Given the fact that the melissa brush needs nutrient soil, the substrate can be prepared from the garden land, sand and humus in equal proportions. At the bottom, the pot must be placed drainage.
Important! Grown for growing Melissa lemon should be well water and breathable, with neutral acidity.
Methods of landing Melissa on the windowsill
It is possible to grow Melissa not only in the country, but also in the pot at home. There are several ways to grow plants on the windowsill.
Seed method
Consider the cultivation of melissa from seeds at home. It is necessary to take into account that growing in pots - the process is long and time consuming. Seeds before planting can be soaked in a solution of manganese. For landing, we need a primer mixture and seeds. At the bottom of the pot we put drainage (perlite, pieces of foam), wean wet soil. Sowing seeds to a depth of 1 cm, covering a polyethylene pot and put it in warm place. Sprouts will appear in 10-15 days. We look so that the land does not swam, periodically irrigate the plants. The appeared sprouts necessarily thin. Picking seedlings Melissa is carried out after the appearance of 3-4 leaves. Replanted seedlings to large pots with a capacity of up to two liters and a depth of at least 15-20 cm. After 2 months it will be possible to tear the first sheets.
Did you know? The people of Melissa is called a brand. With her spicy smell, she attracts a lot of bees.
Division bush
There were no desire to mess around with seeds and wait two months, you can try to grow homemade Melissa by the division of the bush. The reproduction of Melissa division is carried out in the spring when the plant allows new roots. The bush digs up, shake the earth and divide it into several little bushes (the roots must have at least a few kidney). The new seedling is put in pots with a pre-cooked soil. After 2-3 weeks, the bush will give an increase, and you can take advantage of the fruits of your work. 
Reproduction with chains
If you have a Kush Melissa in the country, but you do not want to dig it, you can resort to reproduction with the tanks. At the beginning of summer, when the Escape reaches a length of 10-15 cm (preferably before flowering), it is pressed against the ground and sprinkle. So that the sprinkled shoots put the roots, the ground around the embankment should be time to periodically. For two weeks, the groove will give roots. It can be boldly digging and cut off from the main bush. We plant a pot into a pot and we carry home, because at home to grow Melissa is easier, and it will always be at your hand. Pot for hardening Kusta for 3-4 days put in the shadow.
How to smear indoor melissa
There is another way as you can put at home bush Melissa, -Contamination. You need to buy in the market or in the supermarket a bundle of Melissa, put it in the water. After 10 days, the roots will appear, and shoots can be placed in a pot with ready-made drainage and a special substrate. Then the seedling for several days put in the shaded place so that the seedlings did not receive sun burns. Within two weeks, new shoots will appear at the plant. After 2 months, you can harvest.
Important! Melissa for cuttings should be freshly cut.
Melissa care rules at home
Melissa care rules are simple. Everything that she needs is timely watering, making beneficial substances and proper trimming. When buds appear, cut them down. The main value of Melissa is the leaves.
Watering and feeding plants
In the warm season of the year, the melissa bushes need to water as the soil drying 2-3 times a week. For winter when the number sunny days It decreases, watering is spent economically. Movement of plants or stagnation of water in the soil can lead to a disease muced dew or root rot, subsequently a bush dies. Feed Melissa is better than a special liquid fertilizer. It is bred according to the instructions. The feeder is carried out throughout the growing season.
If you want melissa leaves to be more juicy, irrigate it daily from the sprayer.
Accurate origin of the name Melissa It is not found out due to the disagreement of his interpreters. But it is known that the grassy plant of the family called Melissa, the cultivation of which as medicinal raw materials is widespread, is also called kidylon, lemon grass, lemon and bees mint. This inconspicuous grass is cultivated by gardens, gardeners and even plantatives for industrial purposes, focusing primarily on the wealth of biologically active substances contained in Melissa.
Did you know? According to one of the versions, the name of Melissa was formed from the addition of the Greek words meaning honey and leaves. On the second - on behalf of the Nymph Melissa, allegedly treated Zeus with honey and milk. According to the third - Melissa called the beauty, turned into a bee by the will of the Olympic gods.
Melissa: Plant Description
The height of the perennial can reach one and a half meters. Its foundation is very branching rhizome. The cuffs opposite leaves of a complex shape, resembling a heart and egg and having a large teeth at the same time, are located on a branched stem, as if a limp with four sides.
Short flowers are crowned with stitched bunches of small white flowers, which can also have pale pink or purple tones. Flowers have four stamens, upper four-part pestle ovary on a long column. Flowering Melissa is marked by July and August of the second year of growth.
Large, with black glitter, four-way fetus, gaining maturity in August-September, ovoid shape. Before flowering, the grass fragrances lemon. When flowering ends, the weakening smell becomes unpleasant.
How to choose a place and prepare the soil for growing Melissa
To Melissa grew well, it is required to create certain conditions for it.
Lighting for active growth
Landing Melissa is recommended to produce in place with good sunlightwhich is especially important for germination of small seeds from nature. Frosts are able to destroy new lemon mint bushes, so their cultivation should begin with disembarking in warm time. In the future, the plant demonstrates a fair-resistance to cold, although the place where Melissa grows, is still better to choose on the south side, protected from the air flow running from the north.
Important! On the open sunny Place Melissa fragrance is saturated.
Soil preparation for landing Melissa
Soil for landing should be fertile and peeled from weeds. Melissa prefers loamy soils, as having high water and breathability, which makes it possible to grow a full-fledged plant. Possible loose letters. For them, you need a good drainage from fine rubble or broken bricks, which will protect root system from posting.
If the plot is all located on clay soil, then in the place of landing Melissa needs to mix with river sand. The soil reaction to acidity should be weakly acidic or neutral. The first jumping with the weeds of weeds and the application of fertilizers can be made in the fall, and in the spring to explode and peel the warm ground again.
Methods of breeding Melissa, how to plant a medicinal plant
To understand how Melissa multiplies more successful, you must first carefully study and only then choose for planting seeds, seedlings Melissa, cuttings or separated parts of the bush.
Sowing seeds
Thousand seeds weighs about 0.62 g. Their germination is preserved within 2-3 years. Based on the practical experience, it was concluded that from seeds of the plant grows stronger and hardy. When it is better to sow Melissa, depends on the landing material selected for the open soil.
Landing in open ground
Fast germination of seeds will occur when sowing Melissa to open soil starts at the end of May. Moreover, as close as possible to the surface, that is, the melissa seeds are needed to a depth of no more than 1-1.5 cm. For the aisle, there is enough gap to half a meter. Between the bushes, since they decently grow up, it is desirable to leave at least 40 cm.
Gardeners taking care not only about yields, and also about aesthetics of beds, recommend to increase both distances to about 0.6 m. The first sprouts appear only after 3-4 weeks, so the question is: "Why doesn't Melissa, the answer is simple?" - It did not come.
Landing Melissa Chatting
A rich harvest of fragrant melissa lemon can be achieved not only by growing it from seeds, but after receiving the seedlings of them. The landing on the seedlings should be done at the turn of March and April, and in May, the resulting about 40-day material with the fourth leaves on each seedlock is planted into the soil.
Boxes with seeds, covered with glass, contain in a warm room, the illumination of which is increased to the maximum after the appearance of germs. Those who have grown up to 3-5 cm seedlings need to be thinned to five-hundredthimetimeter intervals and subsequent searchables into separate small containers.
Growing melissa dividing bush
Starting by the end of May, to grow shoots the shoots, which can be processed to the division of bushes. Another, also a favorable time - the end of August. The dried bush is cut to the same part in size. At each of them should be preserved at least 4-5 shoots and roots. The separated parts are good and blooming perfectly. The restriction for such a method of breeding Melissa is its age - it must be at least 3-4 years.
How to smear Melissa
Grinders for landing Melissa make from the top part of her young shoots, which after cutting put into the water. After the appearance of the roots (this happens in about two weeks), the cuttings are frozen in a fertilized loose ground.
Melissa Care Rules in the Garden
There is no difficulty, as planted by Melissa, it is in any case unpretentious, and therefore care for it does not provide for special specifics. But in the first year, until the branched roots of the scorched bushes did not independently provide their nutrition and moisture, the plant need close attention. First of all, you need to regularly explode the soil and remove weeds.
In one place, Melissa can exist up to 10 years. But in the sixth year, winter-hardy qualities deteriorates, so in the frost climate after this period it is better to conduct division and searition.
Important! After five years, the winter hardiness of the plant is reduced.
Watering and feeding plants
Several polishers are needed in initial stage Growth. It is necessarily necessary to water with a substantial drought. Watering must be complemented by the soil loan. Laid from above protective layer Mulchi will help the soil to stay wet, and will also serve as a fuse from weeds. Feed Melissa after each cutting of greenery.
Comprehensive liquid fertilizers are used (10 liters of water - 20 g of ammonium nitrate, 50 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride) and mulching by organic - a significant layer of humus or compost. Before flowering, feeding does not make, as this prevents the timely ripening of seeds.
Paging Melissa
Paging of the seedlings Melissa grown in seedlings are produced at a height of 10-15 cm. The result of such a procedure becomes compact bushes with greater branches.
Trim Melissa
Two or three times during the season, melissa shoots radically cut on a 10-centimeter distance from the ground surface. Such an operation leads, except for very soon restoration, to a fairly active formation of a large number of new twigs and thick cute bushes, so attractive that they are used as elements of landscape design.
Hello everyone! How are you? Do you need to calm down a little? And this will help you with good old tea with Melissa.
In the people, this plant is called lemon mint. Thanks to its refreshing and useful properties Melisu is used in medicine and cooking.
I really like this plant and so I planted it in my garden. But it turns out that it is possible to grow it at home on the windowsill that I also want to try to make this winter.
Therefore, today I will tell you how to grow Melissa at home.
Melissa not only has a pleasant fragrance, but also helps with many health problems. She is able to cope with nervous disorders, removes negative emotionsAnd also normalizes the work of the heart.
Even in ancient times, this herb was used as an antibacterial agent.
Essential oils This plant is known for phytoncidal properties. In addition, it contains useful acids, tannins and even carotene.
In the phytotherapy, this herb is assigned to:
- Insomnia and.
- Rheumatism.
- Skin rashes.
- Nervous exhaustions.
- Inflammatory processes of mucous membranes.
By the way, with Melissa, not only tea is good. It perfectly complements, side dishes and salads. In addition, such a spice successfully applies fish dishes, with mushrooms, eggplants and cucumbers.
Features of growing Melissa on the windowsill
To grow Melisu on the windowsill or balcony requires some conditions:
- solar place;
- good seeds;
- watering;
- fertile substrate.
Plant is better to land in pots in spring period. At this time, the fastest growing is ensured, and care is needed the most minimal. At the same time, Melissa will bring joy with its beautiful foliage for several years.
This perennial can grow without transfers three to four years.
Interested in many gardeners, is it possible to grow Melissa during the cold season?
Yes, the bustice will grow in winter, but only his pomp will be less than in summer and spring.
In cold periods, its leaves become lighter.
Place the pot with a plant from the sunny side, but remember that Melissa does not like the direct hit of sun rays and drafts.
Growing
Now we'll figure it out how to properly grow a plant from seeds. Better provide it with a fertile substrate with neutral acidity, as well as with good breathability.
The soil should be easy, as it will provide a good germination of seeds. To break the soil, it is worth using vermiculite or perlit.
Make the composition from the garden land, as well as equal shares of sand and humus. If you do not want to bother, then buy a substrate in the store for indoor plants.
Landing on seedlings is performed as follows:
- Prepare the container in advance. These can be containers, pots or boxes. They should be treated with manganese solution.
- On the bottom of the drainage layer, and then the soil layer.
- Small seeds sieve into moisturized warm primer, at a depth of 5 cm and at a distance of 6 cm.
- After landing, they need to pour water.
The first shoots will appear only after a couple of weeks. At the same time, the landing sites need to moisten every other day. Capacity place in a warm and sunny place.
When shoots appear, boxes can be positioned in a fairly lit place. But it is important that the sun rays do not fall on them. The picking can not be done, but if the plants are too thick, then you can upgrade the weakest.
After a couple of months, the bushes fade, and you can land them for a permanent place of growth.
You can plant seedlings in the garden or in the country. But it is better to do it in the second half of May. And if you plan to plant sprouts on the balcony, then select a long container or volumetric pot.
Seedlings should be planted in one row. At the same time, the distance between the seedlings should not be less than 15 cm.
In addition to seeds, it is possible to grow Melissa with the help of shilling, as well as the division of rhizomes and bush.
To divide the bush, you can start at the end of May or at the end of August. The bush is first digging, and then cuts to the same parts.
At the same time, at least five shoots should remain on each of them. These parts are doing well.
And in reproduction, it is necessary to cut the cuttings from the top of young shoots. They are placed in water, and after the appearance of the roots, they should be transferred to the loose ground.
How to care for a plant?
For the plant it is important to ensure and good care. Watering should be regular. At the same time, it is necessary to water not only soil, but also leaves.
For them better suitable spray. Grown bushes should be watered three times a day.
From May and to the first autumn frosts of tanks with plants can be on the balcony or on the loggia. But in this case, it is necessary to take care of the protection of culture from strong winds And rains.
Do not forget about high-quality feeding. To do this you can take organic fertilizers: Tea welding and egg shell.
Or mineral fertilizers of liquid type. In this case, the potash salt, ammonium sulfate or superphosphate. Fucking should be performed after each leaf trimming.
Remember that in the first year the flowers and lush greens will not appear. At the same time, Melissa does not grow more than 50 cm. Since the basic benefit of the plant in foliage, buds should be turned on as soon as they appear.
How to use Melissa?
Melissa is often used, as well as mint. And when preparing some informations with her, Sage is perfectly combined.
Collect the harvest better for the second year, after Melissa gives the first buds.
It is believed that at this time the plant accumulates a significant number of useful components. Collect the harvest stands with fully formed bushes.
This can be done four times per season. Scroll at a height of 10 cm and even higher. Dry raw materials in small beams. They can be placed in a dry and well thought out place.
If this method is not suitable, then you can separately decompose into one layer on the grille, a canvas or parchment. Good to dry on the loggia.
Only it is better to do in dry weather and in a small shadow.
After drying, dry raw materials must be decomposed into banks and tightly cover them with a lid. In this form you can store reserve during the year. No longer worth it, because Melissa will lose during this time most His aroma.
When stored is not to mix this plant with other herbs.
With the right approach to cultivation and care, you will get a wonderful grodge and on your windowsill, which will please you at any time of the year.
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Motherland of this spicy plant are Mediterranean forests. Nevertheless, in our latitudes, summer residents have learned to grow Melissa on their panstones. But not only in dachas you will see this aromatic plant. You can meet more and more melissa on window sills of urban apartments.
After all, it is very convenient - to have always fresh spice at hand and medicinal plant. That's what about How to grow Melissa at home, we want to tell you in this article.
Description Melissa
This plant is famous for its lemon with honey smell, its name is translated from Latin as " bee leaves" The fact is that fragrant foliage Melissa for bees has a special appeal. Some beekeepers even rub the bee hive foliage of this grass in order to attract bees in them.
We can most often meet pepperlist drug (lemon) Melissa. This plant in the form of a dense curtain with straight, gently omitted, branched stems grows up to a meter in height. Simple, sawdules melissa are lightish green color, and not very expressive flowers located in the sinuses of leaves, a whitish-pink shade. Plant flowering period - end of summer. Botany belong to Melissa to the family of licorious.
Useful properties of Melissa and its use
The ability of this plant to smooth nerve disorders and spasms, to remove cramps, normalize the work of the heart and remove negative emotions, known to people since the times of Plin. Already then used Melissa as an antibacterial agent in the treatment of wounds obtained on the battlefield.
The first to cultivate this plant began the Arabs, in Northern Europe, Melissa came from Spain thanks to the Benedective monas, who were grown on monastic beds. Since then, this grass is often referred to as lemon balsam.
The era of the knights gave us. The famous medieval healer Paracels wrote about her as an elixir of life. He and not only he believed that the lemon balm, boiled in wine, gives the strength, vigor, extends the youth and gives the severity even the most blurred mind.
The British of the Elizabethan era covered the fashion all the time wearing with you "Tussi-Mussus" - Small bouquets, which included other fragrant herbs in except meless. So they tried to smooth out the way with the help of fragrant plants and disinfect the stench of the then cities.
Modern studies confirm the beliefs of our ancestors. Essential oils Melissa possess phytoncidal properties, in addition, in this plant contained in large quantities Vitamin C, acid (coffee, ursol, oleanol), carotene, tanning substances, copper, oily oils. This composition and causes medicinal properties Melissa.
The herbalists and phytotherapists prescribe Melissa at:
- rheumatism
- dizziness,
- reducing immunity
- fainting
- insomnia
- skin rashes
- nervous exhaustion
- ulcers
- inflammation of mucous membranes,
- hypertension and other diseases.
Possessing beautiful healing properties, Melissa has been widely used in cooking. This spice perfectly complements salads, drinks, soups and side dishes. Melissa is harmoniously combined with fish, tomatoes, eggplants, mushrooms and cucumbers. In a dry form, this plant complements the smell of black pepper with lemon notes.
- — useful recipes dishes, teas and baths.
Growing Melissa on the windowsill
In the open ground, this plant can be found both in cultured form and in the wilderness almost on the entire European part of the Russian Federation, in the Caucasus and in the Crimea. In nature, Melissa prefers shady sections of edges, wet gorge, it feels good at the cottages in the company of parsley or dill at open solar plots.
Room Melissa Habitat Requirements
Based on the foregoing, place the pot with Melissa best on the sunny windowsill (East, South and West), otherwise the leaflets of the plant will not be so fragrant. Lack of illumination in the winter period you will have to compensate for additional backlight in the form luminescent lamp Power in the range of 40-80 W. Suspend such a 60 cm lamp above the rabid and turn on in the morning for 6 hours. Such a mode will allow your Melissa to form well-developed fragrant healing sheets.
Melissa does not like straight sunlight and draft. This thermo-loving plant can give a sprout and can exist at a temperature of +10 degrees, but the temperature is optimal for its germination and the temperature is considered the temperature of +25 degrees.
Requirements for the soil for room Melissa
Melissa is not demanding of soilsBut it will be better if you provide her fertile substrate neutral acidity with good water and breathability. Seeds of this grass do not have a good germination, so the easier the substrate will be, the better the Melissa will feel in him. It is best to use perlite or vermiculite as a baking powder.
In the role of nutritional landfills, ordinary garden land can be made or a mixture of turf, humoring and sand in equal shares. The easiest way to get a soil for Melissa is to purchase a package with a finished landstall called "Substrate for indoor plants"
Requirements for watering Melissa at home
Watering should be regular, but without diligence, because the convergence can lead to diseases of Melissa. Water not only the soil, but also spray from the sprayer overground parts of the plants. Adult Melissa watered three times a week.
Making fertilizers
The feeder is welcome, Melissa is responsive to him. Facely a substrate can be as organic ( eggshell, tea brew) and liquid mineral fertilizer (Superphosphate, potash salt, ammonia sulfate). Fingering plants follows after each cutting sheets, which can be produced until the moment of flowering.
- You will be interested:
Reproduction Melissa
The reproduction of Melissa can be made both seeds and young stalling, the division of the bush or rhizomes.
Reproduction of the division of the bush
The easiest way of reproduction It is that in the first days of May or at the end of summer, during the periods, when Melissa gives shoots, the bush is gently divided into pieces and sit down the decenes at a permanent place. This method allows the plant to grow quickly and bloom in the first year.
Reproduction seeds and care
You can buy ready-made planting material Either to deal with them on a familiar, picking up well-developed melissa with large foliage for seeds.
Seed harvesting is carried out from the end of August - the beginning of September. Cut from such plants stems with seed material, Collect them in bundles, hang and dry in a dry, darkened and ventilated room. After the beams with seeds are dried, fold them into the linen bag and thwart with the help of a beater.
If you buy melissa seeds in the store, choose the seeds darker, they will give more friendly shoots.
To plant seeds, prepare the tanks (drawers, pots, containers), will not prevent them from pre-treated with a solution of manganese. At the bottom it follows to start laying the drain layer (clay, clay shards, small gravel, broken brick), and only then a layer of soil.
Considering the fact that the seeds of this plant are small enough, sway them into moisturized warm water Soil either in spring or in autumn no more than 5 cm deep into the distance of 5-6 cm from each other. After planing again, pour the soil.
Melissa shoots wait earlier than a couple of weeks. Do not forget the landing every other day. It is not necessary to dive melissa seedlings with the advent of real leaves, but if the raptitza can come together and begin to suppress each other, upgrade the weakest of them.
When the raptic is fixed, and this should happen in a couple of months, they can be resettled to a permanent place of residence. To do this, you can pick up immediately large pot or long container. In order to enable Melissa to form a full-fledged bush, place the seedlings in one row, and the distance between the bushes should be at least 15 cm.
Helpful advice
From May to the first autumn frosts, containers and pots with spicy greenery can be added to vacation. Only refer to in this case protection against heavy rains and wind gusts.
In the first year, on the young rabid flowers, do not wait, as well, and the riveting greenery. Room Melissa It does not grow above half a meter. Since the value of Melissa in her foliage, break the buds as soon as they appear, but only in the case when the height of the coastal is at least 20 cm.
How to harvest Melissa
Eliminate the crop makes sense only for the second year until the moment, until Melissa gives the first buds, It is during this period in foliage the maximum number of healing components. It is possible to collect a crop as needed with already formed bushes (45 cm in height) 4 times per season. Moreover, cut the sheets at a height of 10 cm and above.
You can dry the healing raw materials in the form of small beams in a dry place on draft. You can decompose the leaflets in one layer on the parchment, metal grid or canvas and dry them on the loggia in dry weather in an inaccessible place for the sun.
After drying, fold the harvested raw materials in glass cans And close the lid tightly. Raw materials are subject to storage no more than a yearbut it is better to use it for half a year, because after Melissa will lose most of his fragrant properties. For the same reason, do not dry leissions in the oven. When stored do not mix the leaves of Melissa with other fragrant herbs.
Often in the garden you can see a modest plant - lemon mint, care and cultivation of which will not cause complications even at novice gardens. The scientific name of inconspicuous bustle - Melissa. The grass has many advantages, use fragrant leaves and stems recommended in cooking, folk medicine, home cosmetology. Before starting landing and caring for Melissa in the open soil, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the features of agrotechnology.
Origin and Description of Culture
According to one of the legends, his name is medicinal, or lemon, Melissa is obliged to exuded honey aroma - "Honey" and "Leaves". The Greeks are interpreted differently, in their opinion, the culture was called in honor of the girl who was inconspicuously related to the Olympic Deities. For incontestation and pride, it was turned into a bee, which preferred lemon mint to other plants.
Another version of the origin of the name is in Ancient Greece Melissa lived lived by Zeus with a special drink from milk and honey. In honor of her, an inconspicuous fragrant culture was named.
Lemon mint - Perennial. The height of the bush reaches one and a half meters. The base is a powerful rhizome, reaching a length of several meters. Leaves resemble hearts, have teeth.
In July and August, Melissa are covered with small white (sometimes pink) flowers with thin fragrance. Fascular mint is revered by bees - at the time of blooming over her tireless workers are circling, collecting nectar. Taste, smell, useful qualities Honey did not remain unnoticed - the bee product collected from Melissa is considered the most valuable. Feature of perennial - after flowering, fragrant fragrance disappears. Leaves exude pretty nasty smell.
Varietal variety
If the beds are planned to be grown by Melissa, her grades are better to study pre-be pre-it, it will help to determine the choice. The types of lemon mint are quite a few, they are distinguished by the height of the bush, flowering, the intensity of the flavor:
- It has a bright green tint of leaves and a persistent aroma. The height of the adult bush does not exceed the meter. Blossom begins in June, lasts until mid-August. Used in cooking.
- Noticeable bushes reaching a height of 55-60 cm. Ophid leaves, exuded a thin fragrance. Flowers begin to bloom at the beginning of summer.
- The feature of the bush is the height that reaches 130 cm. Blossom starts from the middle of the summer and continues almost to autumn. Different with persistent fragrance of leaves.
- Melissa varieties of lemon fragrance, the smell of which is not different from the fragrance of citrus. Usually used in conservation, for the manufacture of perfumes and facial and body care products.
Agrotechnical requirements
It is not so difficult to grow Melissa, as it seems to many novice gardeners. It suffices to comply with simple agrotechnical requirements that include:
- preparation of soil;
- choice of place;
- proper moisturizing;
- timely feeding.
The soil for growing in the open soil will need light, nutritious. Melissa loves good lighting, but without drafts, so it is better to choose cozy corner in the garden. The land should not be abundantly moisturized, often the bushes do without irrigation - the mud can destroy lemon mint, causing rotting the roots.
It grows in one place up to 10 years, it must be considered when planning landings. Moving adult bushes is transferred painfully, take a long time and can die.
How to plant Melissa
The cultivation of Melissa lemon - the process is simple, but provided that all the requirements of the agrotechnology are observed. Landing is carried out in several ways:
- especially;
- stalling;
- seeds in open ground;
- diggers.
The most complex and time-consuming method of reproduction is through seedlings. Difficulties arise even when sending the planting material into the soil - the seeds are small and evenly distribute them on the surface of the substrate is not obtained from everyone. Another feature of sowing is stratification. For soaking, the pink solution of manganese is most often used.
For breeding, you can use adult bushes - Dellets are not bad. If everything turned out and the plants survived, good harvest Melissa will be happy for the first year after landing. The bushes are well branched, therefore a simpler way - reproduction to carry out with drains or cuttings.
Seeds
Get melissa from seeds is troublesome, but interesting. Before sowing, be sure to soak the seed material in a solution of manganesev, after which you dry on the napkin. Use for growing seedlings is recommended for tomatoes and peppers - it is lightweight, well passes moisture and air necessary for plant growth.
Mandatory condition is a good drainage. At the bottom of the tank, put a layer of clay, shards from clay, pieces of foam. Seed material to send to a depth of about 1 cm. After sowing, cover the container with a piece of glass or polyethylene. Shoot will appear after 4 weeks. After a half months spend a pickup. On the beds to send seedlings at the age of 6 leaves.
Division bush
If there is no desire to grow Melissa from seedlings, you can do it easier to get full-fledged copies of the decene. Process to engage better spring, even before the appearance of leaves. An adult bush dig up, divided into several parts, be sure to have a kidney at each of them. Dellets are planted in advance prepared soil. Make in the soil ash, a small amount of sand, compost.
First time after the transplantation, it is necessary to richly irrigate the soil, especially if spring does not indulge the rains.
Reproduction with chains
Fast and easy way to get full-fledged bushes - use to reproduce a grain. The process is simple:
- From an adult bush to proceed a few deep grooves.
- In every furrow put the shoot of Melissa.
- Click shoot to earth with steel clamps.
- Plus the places of contact with the soil surface with soil.
Earth to abundantly water in the continuation of the whole summer. Usually, strong roots grow to the beginning of autumn. The resulting bushes Melissa do not disassemble, leave until spring. After converging in the snow, cut off the shoots, dig a plants with big room Earth and transplant to a predetermined place.
Shining
For growing, Melissa can use cuttings. Cut them is recommended from an adult plant, and if there is no possibility, then to purchase a lemon mint bundle and use for germination. The length of the cutlets should not exceed 15 cm.
Houses put the cuttings of lemon mint in the water on the sunny window sill. After a half weeks, the roots will appear, you need to allow them to grasp and plant to the nutrient substrate. If the weather is solar and warm, it is recommended to land right into the garden or in bed.
Growing from seeds
Despite the fact that the cultivation of melissa from seeds is considered the largest, planting lemon mint many gardeners prefer precisely this way. In addition to the shortcomings here there are advantages:
- you can put several varieties and independently check their differences and advantages;
- refresh plants, which over time degenerate, which affects the aroma and useful qualities.
If a garden land is used for landing, it is necessary to carry out its disinfection - send to the hot oven for half an hour. Boiling water is better not to use - the hot liquid will not be able to destroy some types of bacteria. On the bedding to the open ground, send the landing material in April-May, the soil to pre-eat and swap.
Eat method
After the Melissa seeds are sprouting, the care of the seedle to exercise, as for houseplants. Conduct frequent, but stingy watering, loosen the surface of the soil with a sharp stick, trying not to damage the roots that are in the upper layers of the substrate.
Conducting a picking at the age of 4 leaves, be sure to leave a hoof on the roots. Plant plant is better in separate glasses filled with drainage and light substrate. After the transplant, put the capacitance on the light window sill, following the melissa, the straight sun rays did not fall.
Sowing an open soil
Can be carried out by seeds not through eat method, and immediately in the open soil at the cottage. Danger for such plants in weeds - they are able to drown out the tender sprouts of Melissa, not allowing to grow and develop. Conducting herbs is difficult - determine where weed, and where spicy culture, inexperienced gardener is not easy.
If we thoroughly rush the weed herbs, the complexes in the cultivation of Melissa will not arise. A month after germination, the bushes, leaving the strongest. Melissa bushes grown from seeds are distinguished by disease resistance and climatic conditions, It is easily tolerated frost.
The main thing is to ensure that the soil is wet, but not dirty.
Features of care
Care for mint simply, the main processes that need to be carried out during the season:
- Watering. Irrigation is rare - excess moisture causes rotting roots and the death of Melissa bushes.
- Lucm soil. Carefully, without deepening in the lower layers, in which the rhizome Melissa is located - it can be damaged.
- Mulching. The mulch decomposed with a thick layer (the crust of pine, crushed straw, sawdust) will protect from evaporation of moisture and weeding herbs, loosening will have to be carried out much less often.
- Feeding. introduce nutrients Recommended only when slowing down growth. Most often apply nitrogen compositions. Before collecting leaves, do not use fertilizer.
- Shelter for the winter. Some Melissa varieties do notize frost poorly, so it is recommended to cut in the fall overhead Plants and cover the soil agrofiber, sawdust, sweetheart, dry grass.
In the cultivation of lemon mint, you need to remember about one feature of the plant - despite the fact that in one place the bush is able to grow to 10 years, the cold resistance is sharply reduced in the fifth year. Adult Melissa to cover for the winter necessarily, otherwise, at the first frost, she will perish.
Growing at home on the windowsill
It is possible to grow lush compact bushes at home using a sunny window sill instead of a bed.
The cultivation and care of lemon mint on the windowsill begins with seedlings. It differs little from the preparation of young plants to planting on the bed - send to the nourishing light substrate seeds, wait for shoots and dive into the pot. After the bushes are growing a few full leaves and begin to branch, transplant in larger containers. Conduct to conduct annually.
It is necessary to care for Melissa, as for unpretentious indoor plants:
- prevent soil moistening;
- protect against solar straight rays;
- periodically loosen the top layer of the substrate;
Lemon mint growing on the windowsill, you need to expose to pruning - this will allow you to get a compact beautiful bush. For the winter, it is better to completely cut the above-ground part - young shoots will begin to grow from the root.
Melissa is one of the few crops, which is characterized by ease of cultivation and care. The main thing is possible 2-4 times for the season to collect spice, make billets and even dry, which will allow you to enjoy the aroma and taste of lemon mint throughout the year in your favorite dishes.