Monday, October 25, 2010

Finishing projects week!

This week I'm going to finish planting bulbs.

This is the time in south Texas to plant all your bulbs for next spring. You'll see the garden stores have loads of them in stock. I'm also planting non-flowering bulbs like garlic.

I love the first daffodils of spring so I snagged a bag and will naturalize them in the yard. All that means is that I'm planting them in the grassy areas of the lawn to make it look like they've been growing there for years! The best way to do this is to take a handful of bulbs and throw them up in the air, where they land is where they get planted. They'll lay dormant over the winter and come spring they'll be the first flowers to bloom. They'll bloom even before the grass gets green again! When the stalks and leaves are spent, just mow your yard like usual. They'll multiply over the years, so one bag of 10 bulbs will give you tons of beautiful flowers.

I'm also planting regular garlic and elephant garlic. Just take the ordinary bulbs you get from the store, separate the cloves, and plant. Mulch with about four inches of leaves or hay over the winter then in the spring pull it away. If your garlic produces a flower, just pinch it off and all of the plants energy will go towards growing the bulb. You'll have ginormous bulbs by late next summer! Even if your cloves spout, they'll survive a frost, just keep mulching them.

Stay tuned all week as I make myself get the little projects I've been working on finished before I have to go back to work full time next week!


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