What is honeysuckle and what does it look like?
Honeysuckle is an ornamental garden bush from the family of the same name. Depending on the specific variety and type, it can be erect, creeping and climbing, which makes it especially popular when developing landscape design. Large and bright flowers of different shades decorate gazebos, alleys and decorative compositions.
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What varieties need to be covered
Honeysuckle bushes can be classified into decorative and edible. Russian gardeners liked the varieties Honeysuckle, Blue Bird, Blue Spindle, Lakomka, Amphora, etc. Most edible varieties of honeysuckle are characterized by high frost resistance and do not require additional shelter for the winter. Thus, growth buds and wood can withstand air temperatures down to -50 °C, roots and flower buds - down to -40 °C.
As for ornamental shrubs, it is recommended to insulate blanket, Tatar and blue honeysuckle with covering material. The varieties Honeysuckle, Brown, Gecrotta and Telman also need additional protection.
Technology
The climatic characteristics of a particular region are the main guideline in choosing the autumn preparation of a plant. Shrubs growing in the Moscow region and the Volga region do not require special care or insulation. In this case, mulching will be quite sufficient. Gardeners in the Urals also do not worry about their plants; the main insulation in this region is snow. As it melts, it is again sprinkled on top of the honeysuckle. In Siberia, before the onset of winter, bush branches need to be prepared - cut and tied with twine. The plant bends down to the ground and is covered with a net to protect it from birds.
Honeysuckle is a frost-resistant and unpretentious plant. Even a period of severe frost is not dangerous for most varieties.
For decorative varieties, light shelter will be sufficient. It is the shrub's resistance to cold and fungal diseases that attracts many gardeners who are designing their gardens. With timely pruning, watering and harvesting, the bush will become a real pride of the gardener, and ripe honeysuckle berries will delight the whole family.
Care for honeysuckle in winter - watering
Edible honeysuckle stops growing shoots by mid-summer. Lack of moisture leads to the fact that in September the foliage dries out and falls off. Therefore, preparations for hibernation should begin in mid-summer.
During the hot and dry season, honeysuckle is irrigated with a bucket of water once a week. Subsequent mulching will not be superfluous. The roots of the plant are shallow from the surface of the earth, and severe drying out will lead the bush to early hibernation, which is undesirable. Wet autumn weather will not require additional watering.
Preparing for insulation
Preparing honeysuckle for winter is carried out in mid-late September. The main measures that help the shrub adapt to new weather conditions include:
- Watering. If autumn is dry, the plant needs to be watered regularly and abundantly. In case of precipitation, additional moisture is either minimized or completely eliminated.
- Feeding. The application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers saturates the root system of honeysuckle during the wintering period. Nitrogen compounds are not used to prepare shrubs for cold weather. They activate the vital processes of the plant, as a result of which it can produce buds that die under the influence of low temperatures.
- Transfer. In the spring, honeysuckle wakes up quite quickly, which is why the transplantation procedure is carried out in the fall, during the hibernation period. The plant is carefully dug up, removed from the old hole and moved to a new place, fertilized with humus. The depth of the hole should be 10 cm.
- Trimming. It is carried out on fruit crops older than five years. This procedure will give the shrub an aesthetic shape, increase the subsequent harvest, strengthen the plant before cold weather and rejuvenate it. Dry, damaged, pest-infested, densely growing branches are pruned.
Compotes
Honeysuckle compote is a good replacement for carbonated sweet drinks. It perfectly quenches thirst; the compote can be served with pieces of crushed ice and mint.
Recipe for a 3 liter jar
The refreshing drink has an unobtrusive taste, moderate sweetness and a bright summer aroma.
For ease of preparation, the ingredients are designed for a 3-liter jar:
- 600 g honeysuckle;
- 2 liters of boiling water;
- 300 g sugar.
Step-by-step process for preparing compote:
- Fill a sterilized 3-liter jar one-third full with washed and sorted berries. Cover the top of the container with a boiled lid.
- Cook the syrup from water and granulated sugar over medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring.
- Pour sugar syrup over the honeysuckle, cover the neck with a lid and leave for 5 minutes until bubbles rise to the top. Otherwise, the workpiece may swell.
- Cool the container upside down under a warm blanket or blanket.
This drink can be stored for up to 2 years in a cellar or pantry.
We recommend reading the article about red currant compotes
Without sterilization
Rolling compote without sterilization makes the preparation process easier.
What do you love more?
CompoteJam
Product proportions:
- 250 g honeysuckle;
- 2.5 l of filtered water;
- a glass of sugar.
Step by step cooking:
- Sort the berries thoroughly, wash and dry.
- Sterilize lids with jars. Pour honeysuckle into a container.
- Boil water and fill the jar up to the neck until it overflows.
- Place the lid on top and leave the workpiece for 15 minutes.
- Through the nylon lid with holes, drain the liquid back into the pan and boil.
- Add sugar to the honeysuckle and refill the jar with the boiled broth.
- Cover the neck with a lid, turn it upside down and wrap it up to cool slowly.
After a day, the compote can be moved to the cellar for storage. The shelf life of compote without sterilization is shorter, but its taste is as fresh and natural as possible.
It is better to process honeysuckle immediately after picking, so the berries will not spoil.
What species are afraid of cold weather?
About 200 types of berries are known, most of which are poisonous. A striking representative of inedible honeysuckle is the common, popularly called wolfberry. However, there is also edible honeysuckle, which is famous for a whole bunch of beneficial properties.
Edible shrub species include:
- blue;
- Caucasian;
- Altai;
- Kamchatka;
- Honeysuckle.
Eating this healing berry helps prevent diseases of the cardiovascular system, gall bladder, and gastrointestinal tract.
Heat-loving varieties of shrubs are:
- Brown;
- Japanese;
- shiny;
- pointed.
Frost-resistant varieties of honeysuckle include:
- azure;
- Blue bird;
- long-fruited;
- Cinderella;
- Gerda;
- Leningrad giant;
- Moraine;
- Malvina.
Transplantation and planting
Honeysuckle must be planted or replanted in the fall. Experienced gardeners usually do this in September. Therefore, this information will be useful for beginners. Autumn is a favorable period for the plant to produce the maximum amount of fruit in the future. To do this, you should listen to these recommendations:
- the rhizome must be placed at soil level;
- mature shrubs require pre-pruning;
- the distance between seedlings and transplanted bushes must be at least 1 m;
- when planting, you need to dig a hole about 0.5 m in height and width;
- place humus in the pit, as well as potassium salt and superphosphate.
Honeysuckle jam: a five-minute recipe
INTERESTING: It’s not for nothing that the jam is called “five-minute”. It will take you no more than 5-7 minutes to prepare it and as a result you will get a delicious preserve.
For this you will need:
- Honeysuckle – 1.5 kg. (plus or minus 100-200 g, berries can be chosen of any size, sour or sweet).
- Sugar – 1 kg. (note, for sour honeysuckle you may need up to 1.5 kg of sugar).
- Cinnamon stick
Cooking:
- To make delicious jam, you will need to sort the berries so that there are no spoiled, damaged or rotten berries in the jam.
- You can crush the berries with a masher to release the juice, or you can leave them whole (depending on your preference).
- Cover the berry with sugar and let it stand (it’s good if you do this overnight, but a few hours is enough).
- When the honeysuckle produces juice, it can be placed on the fire in an enamel bowl.
- Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl or put a whole slice, lower the cinnamon sticks (they may not be added or replaced with ground cinnamon - 0.5-1 tsp).
- Bring the honeysuckle to a boil and turn on the timer, because you need to cook the berry for exactly 5 minutes and then just turn off the heat. Do not forget to stir the mixture so that it does not burn.
- After the cooking process, cinnamon sticks and a lemon slice are removed from the berry mass.
- After 5 minutes of cooking, the mass is preserved in small jars.
Five-minute honeysuckle jam
Pruning honeysuckle in autumn
If at first the bush grows relatively slowly, then after 4-6 years rapid growth begins, and without regular pruning the bush simply becomes overgrown and begins to shade itself. Therefore, it is recommended to carry out lightening or thinning pruning of honeysuckle, cutting out old and young shoots growing inside the bush
and shading the rest.
Naturally, you should never forget about sanitary pruning , which is necessary for all shrubs and trees.
Sanitary pruning includes the complete removal of weak ones , as well as trimming dry and broken shoots to healthy tissue .
As for the timing of honeysuckle pruning , it can be pruned both in the fall (preferably) and in early spring (during this period it is especially convenient to do sanitary pruning, since poorly overwintered shoots are visible, although there are usually few of them). Moreover, in both cases it is advisable to prune in a leafless state, but in the spring the bush wakes up very early, so you may simply not have time and damage the swollen buds.
Video: autumn pruning of honeysuckle - preparation for the new season
Features of pruning climbing honeysuckle honeysuckle
Climbing honeysuckle is most often called honeysuckle. This is a decorative climbing shrub, which is often used by landscape designers for landscaping various low objects - fences, gazebos, arches, gates.
Climbing vines are pruned to rejuvenate the plant and give it the desired shape.
- As a rule, only 4-6 main skeletal branches are left, and all the rest are removed.
- Side branches are shortened by 1/3 every year to encourage more active branching.
- And when the honeysuckle reaches the required height, the tops are pinched.
- And of course, they do regular sanitary pruning.
In general, you can cut = shape the honeysuckle as you like.
Video: how to decorate a beautiful honeysuckle bush honeysuckle
Top dressing
To improve the taste of the fruit, potassium fertilizer is applied to the honeysuckle bush every autumn. Organic supplements are an additional option. The latter will make the land more fertile, due to the saturation of the soil with beneficial bacteria. Usually at this time a bucket of humus or compost serves as fertilizer. Organic matter is added every three years.
Without waiting for cold weather to set in, it is recommended to add phosphorus and potassium supplements.
Good results are obtained by complementary feeding with wood ash, superphosphate and potassium salt, in a ratio of 500:60:40. Indicators are given in grams. The mixture is applied directly under the bush.
It is not recommended to apply nitrogen-containing fertilizers in the fall, as well as fresh cow manure. Such additives can stimulate the re-growth of new branches that do not have time to grow stronger before the onset of winter.
