Growing Advice
Using a good quality multi-purpose compost, pot up your plugs into 10cm pots. Once your plug plants have been potted on and labelled, water them in well and grow on for around 5-6 weeks. Water once the compost starts to dry out.
If preferred you can pot on the plugs into hanging baskets, flower bags or pots. Add a slow release plant food like Miracle-Gro Slow Release All Purpose Plant Food to your compost which will give extra nutrients for strong and healthy plant growth.
Keep plants frost free until mid/late May and then harden off before being placed in their final positions when the risk of frost has passed in your area.
Water as necessary giving a liquid feed such as Neudorff Organic Plant Feed as instructed throughout the growing season.
***For packs of 20/40 plug plants gently remove the small plugs from the tray by pushing up from the bottom using a pencil.
Osteospermum Advice
Osteospermum belong to the daisy family and originate from Southern Africa, hence their common name - Cape Daisy or African Daisy.
Osteospermum thrive when grown in a sunny aspect, so always plant them in a border that has full sun or partial sun and preferably in a warm sheltered area.
Water the plants regularly especially during their first season as they do not like to dry out and feed them throughout the summer too to help promote flowering.
Deadhead the faded flowers to prolong the flowering season and remove most of the stem too to keep the plant looking neat and tidy.
Osteospermum respond well to pruning so cut them back either in early spring or in the autumn.
Although many Osteospermum are listed as annuals, they are half-hardy perennials. This is because they are not entirely hardy and will not probably survive a long series of winter frosts. But they can be propagated by taking cuttings in the autumn or you could try over-wintering them in a frost-free spot.
