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Planning for years of pleasure every springtime

WALKING INTO a garden
shop or nursery at this time
of year and seeing the col-
orful posters promoting
bulbs might lead you to im-
pulse-buying.

By Roy Jonsson
Contributing Writer

Before you purchase any quan-
‘tity of bulbs, here are a few ideas
you might like to work into your
bulb planting program.

Choosing a proper focation is
critical for both the first blooming
session and each successive one.

The vast majority of bulbs need
five or six hours of sunshine each
day to grow and develop enough
food for next year’s flower pro-
duction.

They can be planted ' under
deciduous shade trees only if the

' bulbs have almost matured before
the trees lea? out in the spring.

Bulbs will grow in reasonable
garden soil but they prefer a silt
“or sandy loam containing a fair
amount of organic material.

The one critical factor is
drainage. This is especially true of
tunicate bulbs.

_ A small bed of flowering bulbs
can look very effective if they are
‘grouped in clumps of 10 to 20 and

' Situated in rockeries or among
shrubs and flowering bushes.

If you have large numbers of
bulbs, massed plantings in annual
beds can create a stunning show
of color. © ~

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Small bulbs that are easily nat-
uralized can be planted in clumps
of six to eight along the cdge of
beds or sidewalks, in rockeries or
between flowering shrubs.

The reason for putting them on
the edge of the bed is to allow the
immature foliage to be flipped in
out of the bed when working with
soif to plant annuals.

Remember that naturalized bulb
beds cannot be deeply cultivated
on a regular basis without disrup-
ting the bulbs.

There are many varieties of

&4 The vast majority

of bulbs need five or

six hours of sunshine
each day... 9?

tulips to choose from but most of
the species and many of the
hybrids that have short flower
Stems are early bloomers.

When planting a bulb bed,
make sure the short “‘earlies’ go
in front and the tall ‘‘lates’’ at the
back.

Most Darwin and breeder-type
tulips will take forever to mature
and might delay the planting of
annuals untif fate June.

Late-flowering daffodils will
create the same problem.

Color combinations are also
important to the overall garden
design.

Rubber Belts in Back

Try to choose colors that are
cumplementary to one another if
blooming times overlap.

Other spring flowers like wall
flowers or rhododendrons that are
companions to the bulbs or show
up as a backdrop should be con-
sidered in your color scheme.

Planting bulbs
straightfoward procedure.

One of the following three
methods can be used. The first
technique is best for small clumps.

Dig a hole the right depth and
size for the bulbs and then use the
hole as a mixing bowl to add the
organic material and fertilizer.

Stir up these amendments with
the soil at the bottom of the hole
and then space the bulbs the right
distance apart before covering.

Check any standard bulb chart
for the right depth or use the
rough formula of 2% times the
diameter of the bulb.

A second method is to dig the
entire bed and work in the right
amount of organic material and
fertilizer with a cultivator.

Using a bulb planter or garden
trowel, dig individual holes on a
grid pattern for each bulb, cover-
ing them as you go.

A wide board or strip of
plywood to kneel or stand on will
reduce the soil compaction.

The third method is to excavate
a WX 3° section of the buib bed to
the required depth before adding
the amendments to the pit area.

Cultivate the compost and fer-
tilizer into the soil and then set

See Diet page 32

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HEWES photo Terry Patars

BULBS WILL grow in reasonable garden soil but they
prefer a silt or sandy foam containing a fair amount of
organic material.

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