Kotovnik - small perennial herb with a pleasant smell. It belongs to the family of Lambskin.
Kotovnik is considered a good honey plant and has healing properties.
Kotovnik: description of the plant
There are more than 200 species of catnip. Catnip - one of the representatives of this kind. It also has other names - catnip lemon or catnip. It grows almost everywhere: on meadows, in forests, in weedy places, in mountains, in vegetable gardens.
The catnip has the following description.
Externally, catnip looks like mint. This plant can reach a height of one meter.
Leaves lowered, oblong and velvety, gray-green frosted shade.
A catnip can have a white, pale pink, purple or blue flower. Flowers are collected in spicate inflorescences.
The catnip blooms from June to September. This herb contains essential oils in its composition.
Did you know? Kotovnik feline is used in medicine for asthma, migraine, as a sedative, in the treatment of scabies, rheumatism, as an anesthetic for toothache, etc.
Where is the best place to plant a catnip, choosing a place to grow
To grow a catnip in your area, you need to choose a place for planting and further care. This herbaceous plant loves the light, so the area should be well lit. Soils should be light.
Important! In a place where the catnip will grow, water should not stagnate, therefore it is better to plant it on a hill.Kotovnik is very hardy and tolerates severe frosts.
How to plant catnip: rules for growing plants in the garden
Before planting a catnip, the area must be dug up and cleaned of rhizomes of weeds. You can make humus or compost. You can grow this plant where cabbage, cucumbers, potatoes and other crops used to grow. 
Kotovnik can be propagated in several ways:
- seeding catnip seeds;
- growing seedlings;
- division of the bush.
Breeding catnip direct seeding
To breed a catnip you need to know how to grow it from seeds.
If the catnip seeds are sown in open ground, it will bloom only in the second year of life.
When growing a catnip from seeds, the embedment depth should be small. The soil should cover the seeds just one centimeter. The aisles must be at least 30 cm, the plant loves freedom.
Seeds of catnip can be mixed with sand, so that when sown, they do not go down thick. Before planting a catnip with seeds, it is necessary to shed the bed well with water. After sowing, watering is not necessary, as water can wash away small seeds. If the seedlings are thick, it is necessary to do thinning, leaving a distance of about 3 cm between them. Cat's cattle, for which the method of growing from seeds was used, has a slightly different smell than the parent plant.
Did you know? Kotovnik is used in cooking for making spices to meat and fish dishes.
Growing catnies through seedlings
Growing a catnip through seedlings is a more reliable way. Seeds will feel better in greenhouse conditions. Sow seeds in early April. The embedment should be shallow, no more than one centimeter deep.
The first shoots appear in a couple of weeks. Then you need to use the method of picking, in order to seedlings of catnip enough space for food and growth. Picks are carried out when two true leaves appear. Replant the seedlings in special pots or boxes.
In the greenhouse it is necessary to control the humidity and temperature of the air. Seedlings are planted in open ground in May, when at least three pairs of true leaves appeared on it, and its height reached 12 cm.
Before planting seedlings, the soil is dug up to a depth of 25 cm. It is necessary to plant in rows, keeping a distance of 30 cm between stems.
Catplant breeding division bush
Kotovnik multiply by dividing the bush much more often than in other ways.
The plant must be carefully dig and divide the bush into parts. Each part must have at least one healthy root. This will be enough for the plant to stick.
The big plus is the fact that when planting bushes, you can immediately choose the optimal distance between them. When planting seeds the right distance is difficult to ensure. With vegetative propagation, thinning is not required. Features varieties and aroma are preserved.
Did you know? Essential oils of catnip are used in the perfume industry to flavor perfumes, soaps, shampoos.
Basic rules for the care of the catnip
Catnip grass is an unpretentious plant, but care is needed for it anyway.
Watering
Kotovnik easily tolerates temperature extremes and drought. During a drought, the catnip slows down in growth, but retains its decorative effect. With the constant flooding of the soil catnip roots may rot. Watering should be moderate. If there is no rain, the herb can be watered once every two weeks.
Top dressing
In spring, the catnip needs to be fed with mineral fertilizers, which include nitrogen. In the fall, they are fed organic - mullein infusion or chicken droppings.
Thinning, weeding and soil care
We need to weed and loosen the soil for the lush greenery of the catnip. You need to do this two or three times per season. Also, the plant must be mulched with peat or humus.
How to trim a catnip at the dacha
In the middle of summer, when the catnip is in bloom, pruning is recommended. This is the right time. It is necessary to remove the withered inflorescences in order for the plant to continue to bloom longer. Cut the catnip you need to cut the stems, leaving shoots 15 cm high. This contributes to re-flowering in September.
Cut greens dried for later use. Grass should be laid out on a horizontal surface in a well-ventilated place. When the catnip is dry, it is crushed and stored in thick paper bags. Dry grass can be used as a seasoning or as a medicinal plant. Within two years, dry catnip does not lose its properties.
You can grow such beautiful and useful plants in your flower garden as mint, lemon balm, bergenia, heather, lungwort, echinacea, gentian, sage, kupena
Plant resistance to diseases and pests
Kotovnik is very resistant to diseases and pests. This plant can even scare away some insects, for example, aphids and some species of bugs.
A pleasant lemon scent attracts butterflies and moles. They, in turn, lay eggs on the catnip. From eggs, larvae-caterpillars hatch, which can harm the cattle. Fight them better folk remedies. When using chemicals can kill bees that pollinate the plant.
The catnip is not subject to any specific diseases.
Kotovnik: how to get seeds
Seeds of catnip ripen in July-August, uneven. Therefore, they need to collect as maturity, start with the lower inflorescences.
If the seeds are not collected in time, the plant will sow itself in the same place. To collect the seeds, it is necessary to cut the inflorescence and spread it evenly on paper.
Important! The paper on which the seeds are laid out must be white, because you can not see the small seeds.When the buds dry out, the seeds can be removed. Then sift them through a sieve with cells equal to the size of the seed. The remains of the inflorescences should remain in the sieve. Seeds are ready for planting. After collecting their germination lasts two years.
Catniv cat - universal plant. It is used in medicine, in perfumery, in cooking, as well as in landscape design.
