Phaedra's Garden 2022

[Phaedra]

Such a tulip day!

One-person production line

The ones I will plant this autumn - bigger ones and mixed. After a basic clean-up, they will stay in the greenhouse for drying further, maybe a few more days. Then I will use paper bags to store them in the basement.

 

[baymule]

I went to the farmers market in Lufkin today. It’s a real nice facility. The city built the market. Many different things for sale, vegetables, honey, soaps and home made things. There were animal vendors, lots of poultry, mostly chickens, some ducks, a few turkeys and quail. There were several different breeds of rabbits, goats and 2 sheep. There was a cage of just weaned Hereford hogs, they were so cute! I’ve raised Hereford hogs as feeder pigs a couple of times, I like them.

There were several vendors selling vegetable plants, hanging baskets but no cut flowers.

It was a nice outing.

 

[Phaedra]

Those bulbs are beautiful! The greenhouse plays an important role from now on to dry various homegrown goodies. Tulip bulbs are the new guests.

I kept harvesting, drying, and classifying them into four classes. Anything small than these would be sent to the small woodland on the slope.

Yeah, it's a bit time-consuming, but it's also a good experience and learning process.

Big ones - they will need a few more days of drying before storage.

Mmm, don't they look like mini steam buns?

The drying of roses also started. I only took the petals, what pollinators need remains theirs.

Before the thunderstorm arrived, I harvested most chamomiles and let them stay in the greenhouse. They were in a vase with water, so the growth is going on.

I do think that there would be side shoots that bring the next batch of flowers, let's see.

Now, most of the flowers are fully blossoming, I can harvest the flowers tomorrow quite easily.

It's another long day, but I am so happy to see the first cornflower and calendula that I sowed from seeds in this garden.

Also the first Fuji Apple!

 

[ducks4you]

Did you dig up the tulips or purchase them? They are so Clean!!!
I won't be dividing mine until August, when I clean up my front beds.
I have made a new rule--bulbs ONLY go to family!!
Not only does my family Thank me, but, unlike my neighbor, they will plant them and don't stock them away and pretend that they can force them in the winter, which is pretty hard to do, bc it doesn't work, and then they dry out.
Those were my biggest bulbs, too!
I put a piece of wood just east of the batch that has pink tulips. Middle DD wants those and I won't remember where they were since all of the petals are now gone.
I took an old tomato cage and put it over the batch of purple tulips. Really, at this point in the Spring it's easy to forget Where they are!
Really, unless you have some squirrels, you can get a lot of multiplication over a few years from your tulips.

 

[Phaedra]

Did you dig up the tulips or purchase them? They are so Clean!!!
I won't be dividing mine until August, when I clean up my front beds.
I have made a new rule--bulbs ONLY go to family!!
Not only does my family Thank me, but, unlike my neighbor, they will plant them and don't stock them away and pretend that they can force them in the winter, which is pretty hard to do, bc it doesn't work, and then they dry out.
Those were my biggest bulbs, too!
I put a piece of wood just east of the batch that has pink tulips. Middle DD wants those and I won't remember where they were since all of the petals are now gone.
I took an old tomato cage and put it over the batch of purple tulips. Really, at this point in the Spring it's easy to forget Where they are!
Really, unless you have some squirrels, you can get a lot of multiplication over a few years from your tulips.

I dug them up for the first time because I planted them in containers or raised beds. I treated them as annual in the past, but now I want to try something different and learn more about them.

It's easy to remove debris after digging them out and letting them dry for a few days. They are much cleaner than what I used to buy from the shop in Netherland.

In the past, I only knew it's still ok to plan tulips even in January, as long as the soil is workable. In my case, some were planted in the containers (with mixed compost and soil), and it seems totally fine.

However, after I dug out bulbs from different growing conditions, I understood the difference. Besides the variety, those were planted in an ideal environment from the end of September till late October; they grew much better and bigger.

And those were planted in the containers, majorly for a more appealing effect in springtime, even if they naturally die down, one to two smaller bulbs with more tiny bulblets were produced.

I won't say digging them out is a good way; after all, variables crucial to different gardens and gardeners are the real calls. From what I tried to do these days, digging them out and drying them can rescue some that might get damaged (rot, eaten, etc.) in the soil.

Let them stay where they were is nothing wrong. However, now I know why there are always those tulips that show up with one or two tiny leaves and no flowers. I will put those smaller bulbs later in our orchard area without digging them out. However, For those I would like to plant as spring focal points, I will dig out for a better display effect.

In my opinion, that's why gardening is so fascinating. It offers so many ways to initiate, experience, learn, and enjoy what we choose to plant. Maybe I will try to breed our tulips and/or Dahlias one day.

Ah, I have one question about tulips; what would you do when you dig them out and realize some are growing (again?)? Thanks in advance for the insights.

 

[ducks4you]

I have mine on beds to the side of a front sidewalk with 3 steps. It has Very good drainage and I have had no rot there. I haven't dug out the bed for a few years, but last time the beds were stuffed with bulbs and smaller bulbs that had multiplied.
I think, by accident, I gave them perfect growing conditions.
I have read about how to plant. Some say to plant 3x the width of the bulb.
Others say, dig a hole and pour them in.
I have witnessed large bulbs that were twice as deep as I planted them, and that's bc they will dig themselves deeper if you didn't plant them deep Enough.
As for me, I like to dig them out, then replant with space between them. Kinda like cleaning the bed out.
Hence, I will have bulbs to give away.
These beds grow even the small bulbs, so I don't mind giving away the largest ones, but, like I said, they are going to family who Want them.
I also think that we ALL sit on bulbs and don't get them planted. I was given surprise lily bulbs last year by SIL, and I think I lost 1/2 of them bc I didn't get them into the ground. Still, 1/2 dozen came up this year.
If you are not familiar with them:

Growing Surprise Lilies — The Forest Flower

www.theforestflower.com

 

[Phaedra]

I've finished some tasks today in the garden: repotted the rooted florist daisy and sweet potatoes; sowed more seeds; harvested tulip bulbs.

Planting them in these higher plastic planters is a good decision, easy to plant, manage, enjoy, and harvest. As different varieties blossomed from mid-April to late May, they also died back one area after another. This gave me sufficient time to harvest the bulbs in turns, not all at once.

When I harvested them, I directly removed the roots and the outer skins - it makes the drying process easier and quicker. The debris went straight to the compost bin.

They will stay in the greenhouse for a few days to dry, and then I will separate them according to their sizes.

The florist daisy cuttings, after one month - look at their roots!

These are the last batch cuttings from the two mother plants. After I cut these, the mother plants also took a rest to grow themselves. However, two mother plants (also from cuttings, bought at discounter last autumn) already offer more than 15 cuttings, becoming healthy and happy daughter plants.

Sweet potatoes, before I planted them into the soil, I cut a few new shoots and let them stay in the water. One week later, they are ready to be transplanted into soil.

The repot of today, they were moved outside, well watered, and stayed in a bright enough corner without direct sunlight. I will remove them again to full sunlight spots maybe one or two weeks later, up to how they adapt.

Sowed more seeds - fire beans, summer peas, leek, zinnia, and purple broccoli for next April's harvest

The earliest batch of tulip bulbs will become part of my products for the coming farmer's market.

Hoop tunnel - the residents are growing happily. The solar flood lights provide extra hours of light after it turns dark; really cool, my cost-effective greenhouse.

 

[flowerbug]

it is normal for tulips to start regrowing after they've flowered and died back if there is enough moisture in the soil. those that didn't do that probably would have if left for longer in the containers or gardens. if you note which variety that was you could lift that one sooner than the others. if it happened for all varieties then the advice would be to stop watering them when they are about halfway through dying back because you do want a nice tunic on the bulbs and letting them dry out helps with that. this is similar with what i hope for with garlic bulbs is when they start dying back we don't get rains for a few days so i can get them lifted with cleaner results. in clay it's more of a challenge for sure.

the plants that start regrowing will wait until the next spring to finish. i find many bulbs in the fall that have put up sprouts and they are waiting for cool weather and then spring again.

keeping your bulbs in dark and relatively cool locations will help to prevent them from regrowing or spoiling, you don't need to keep them super cold, but you also don't want them to cook in the heat of the summer months (above 90F is pretty hot for them, some will actually be ok with this but others won't do as well). the main thing is dark and controlled conditions with enough air flow so they won't rot. paper bags are probably fine.

 

[Phaedra]

Greenhouse is so ideal for drying herbs and flowers.

One young peony, still brought us one pretty flower

Strawberries are on the way.

 

[ducks4you]

I am happy that you are able to grow starts in water. I have Never had success that way.
This year I planted sweet potatoes in 4 inches of dirt, the potatoes at the bottom, and got lots of starts.
They are waiting to go in their bed, but the bed isn't ready for them, yet.
I will prep the bed this week and get them in. It's going to be close to 100 degrees F for the next 4 days, lovely tropical sweet potato weather.