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Ranunculas
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Branching Out
Deeply Rooted
Yesterday morning I harvested flowers and greenery, and got them in buckets of cool water to hydrate. Then I spent several hours in the afternoon making arrangements. My husband has a new phone that makes it easy to add a cool or warm tone to photos, so I used that to photograph the results. There are five bouquets in this shot, with a large one in the centre and four smaller ones beside it.
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Branching Out
Deeply Rooted
One patch of Ranunculas has finished blooming and the leaves have turned yellow. You're supposed to wait for the leaves to turn brown before you lift and store the corms, but I wanted to flip the bed to pickling cucumbers and tomatoes so I removed them from the ground anyway. There was an old grocery cart basket hanging around and that became my drying rack. I placed the rack over a wheelbarrow and was able to fit quite a few clumps of corms in it; there should be lots of air circulation for drying down. We had rain after that, and the clumps stayed nice and dry in their spot close to the house.
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Branching Out
Deeply Rooted
The last few patches of ranunculas have dried down, and now that the foliage is mostly gone they are very easy to lift from the ground. I trimmed their stems, leaving about 2". Having some stems attached will make it easier to figure out which way is 'up' come spring. After trimming I tossed them on the lawn and gave them a good rinse with the hose to remove most of the dirt. The cleaned corms will sit in the shade on nursery trays to dry for a week or two, and then they'll go back into paper bags or cardboard boxes for winter storage in a cool, dark spot indoors. My ranuncula season is complete-- and it was a great ride! 
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Branching Out
Deeply Rooted
Here we go again-- a new year, and a new season of growing ranunculus. The corms that I planted last spring multiplied exponentially, so now there are lots of extras to experiment with. This year I am starting some several weeks earlier than in past years, and instead of placing them in potting mix I am trialling pre-sprouting them in vermiculite instead. Also, the first batch I soaked for a few hours to wake them up, but the second batch just got a quick rinse with the hose before being tucked into damp vermiculite. If they can pre-sprout without soaking for several hours first I will be really happy, as the soaking step can be kind of messy.
For now they are sitting in our cold, dark basement with a loose layer of row cover over them to hold in a bit of extra humidity.
For now they are sitting in our cold, dark basement with a loose layer of row cover over them to hold in a bit of extra humidity.
