HOME & GARDEN

Outdoor garden work 5
never really ceases

IN AREAS where the
ground is now frozen, the
Canadian Garden Council
(CGC) says it is an ideal
time to place leaves or straw
around tender plants.

For example, rose bushes
should be hilled up with a solid
mound of soil around their base
just before freeze-up, and then
after the freeze is the time to place
Jayers of a mulch such as leaves
(held in place by, for example,
wire mesh or nylon netting), or
straw.

The leaves or straw are not
placed until after freeze-up in
order to prevent rodents getting in
and making their winter home at
the expense of your ‘‘protected”’
plants!

Spring-flowering bulbs may still
be planted into about-to-freeze,
or partially frozen, soil.

In fact, the CGC points out
that if you purchase some tulips,
crocus, daffodils or other spring-
flowering bulbs, and have not yet
planted them, you may as well
throw them out in the garbage
now, if you do not ‘plant them
somewhere very soon.

Often, novice gardeners believe
that if they do not get their bulbs
planted in autuma, they can just
Keep them over and plant them
the next spring.

This is nor the case! Bulbs not
planted this autumn will be totally
wasted. It matters not how you
attempt to keep them over, they
will not remain viable.

They must be planted so that
they may restart their growth cy-
cle.

The one option that remains for
those who do not get their bulbs
planted before the soil freezes
solid is to plant them in containers
for forcing in the home.

To do this, the homeowner must
have an area or facility where the
bulbs will undergo their simulated
winter for about !0 to 14 weeks.

The area could be a shallow pit
dug near the foundation of the
home, and covered with straw,
chipped styrofoam, or leaves to
keep it from freezing, or it might
be an old refrigerator in the
basement where the bulbs can be
stored, planted in their containers.

The important part of the
storage is that the temperature be
maintained not higher than about

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tessnteed or veestt gest ator CLOW NID

Photo Maiak

WHAT couLD be more pleasant than a living bouquet of flowers
on a cold winter’s day? Forcing bulbs lets you enjoy spring on

the coidest days of February.

9°C (48°F) and that it never go
below a degree or two below
freezing.

The bulbs may be planted in
any type of soil, including sand or
bagged planting soil, and the
planting medium, whatever it is,
need only barely cover the tips of
the bulbs, so the containers may
be very shallow.

Bulbs may be crammed into the
containers so they are almost
touching each other, and actually
touching the inside of the con-
tainer all around.

The planting medium must be
moist afl during the forcing, and
the area completely dark.

When white spikes of foliage
begin to appear, and the container

is fuli of roots (some smal! roots
should begin growing through the
hole in the bottorn of the con-
tainers), it’s time to bring the con-
tainers into the living area of the
home.

They should be exposed to light
gradually, and the cooler the
room where they grow, the longer
will be the display of bloom.

If you have bults that you or a
friend will not be able to plant
outdoors, why not try forcing
them in a cold room or
refrigerator?

You’ll have an early spring
when they come into bloom about
two to three months after you
plant them as suggested here.

peor February.’ 93) : \BI

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