If you want pink hydrangeas in your garden, then this one easy-to-find vegetable can change them to your desired colour while also allowing them to grow healthily
If you’re growing hydrangea this spring you might want to add this one cheap vegetable to give them a more vibrant and beautiful pink colour. Hydrangeas are one of the UK’s most popular flowers – and for good reason.
Easily distinguished by their halo of pastel blossoms, they’re colourful, simple to grow, and can be kept both indoors and outdoors depending on what best suits your home and needs. So, how do you get the most out of them?
Gardening is a quintessential British pastime. Not only does it get you spending time outdoors, it can dramatically improve the appearance of your home, adding much-needed life and colour.
However, depending on what kinds of plants you have in your garden, you may want to create a more cohesive look when it comes to colour. After all, not all hues go together.
It may seem impossible, but you can actually change the colour of certain flowers. This includes hydrangeas, which are known for coming in a wide variety of shades.
As reported by Good Housekeeping, gardening expert Nicola MacNaughton says you can use mushrooms to change the colour of your hydrangeas. This is because they are sensitive to the soil’s PH balance.
If you want your flowers to be pink, you need to make the soil more alkaline. Meanwhile, if you want your hydrangeas to be blue you need to add acidity to the soil.
This is because hydrangeas take in different amounts of aluminium depending on the PH. When the soil is acidic, it takes in more aluminium, which lends the blossoms a blue colour.
However, raising the PH inhibits the absorption of aluminium. This in turn allows the flowers to develop into a rich pink or red colour.
Given that mushrooms are naturally alkaline, they make great aluminium inhibitors. The best way to utilise them, according to Nicola, is to grind them up into a mushroom compost.
You should then spread the compost over the patch where the hydrangeas are growing. This will allow them to optimally absorb the nutrients they need.
Good Housekeeping write: “Hydrangeas are fascinating in that, unlike most other plants, the colour of their flowers can change dramatically – and it’s all down to the pH level of the soil. If the soil is acidic, then the hydrangeas will turn blue, and when the soil is alkaline, then the hydrangeas will be pink!”
The great news is that you can pick up mushrooms quite cheaply. You can buy a pack of Iceland Closed Cup Mushrooms for just £1.
