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Gardening InformationMulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display
by:
Michael McGroarty
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Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display
Flower bulbs need a good, long, winter’s sleep. Like several folk we know, if they wake up before they are fully fresh they get kind of cranky, and then they don’t bloom well at all.
Actually what happens is during a mild winter, the soil stays too warm and the bulbs begin to move out of dormancy early. They start to grow, and once the tips emerge above the soil line, they are subject to freeze if the temperatures dip back down below freezing. And that’s normally what happens. After the bulbs have emerged, they freeze and then don’t bloom at all, or if they do it’s a really sad display.
Another reason this happens is because the bulbs are not planted deep enough. They may have been deep enough once
you planted them, but as the soil goes through the freeze and thawing process, the bulbs can really activity their way up in the ground. One way to support your flower bulbs sleeping longer, which wish protect them from freezing, is to mulch the bed.
In the fall simply apply a 3-4” layer of well composted mulch. This layer of mulch wish do a couple of things. It wish maintain a higher wet content in the soil, which is nice as long as the soil isn’t too soggy. Well composted mulch besides adds valuable organic matter to the planting bed. Organic matter does a great natural fertilizer.
A 3-4” layer of mulch besides acts as an insulator. It wish support the soil from freeze for a while, which is nice because you don’t want the bulbs going through a series of short cycles of freeze and thawing. Then once
the temperatures drop below freeze and stay there for a while, the soil does eventually freeze. Then the mulch really works in reverse and keeps the soil from thawing out too early. Keeping it in a frozen state is really nice because the bulbs remain dormant for a longer period of time.
When they finally do wake up it is spring time, and hopefully by the time they emerge from the ground the danger of a hard freeze is past and they wish not be damaged. If you can support them from freezing, they wish flower beautifully. The extra organic matter wish help to nourish the bulbs once
they are done blooming, and the cycle starts all over again.
We besides plant annual flowers in the same beds with our spring bulbs. By the time the danger of frost is past and it’s time to plant the annuals, the top of the bulbs have died back and are available to be removed. The mulch that is accessorial in the fall besides helps to nourish the annual flowers, as well as improve the soil permanently. Any time you add well composted organic matter to your planting beds, you are bound to realize multiple benefits. The key words here are “well composted”. Fresh material is not good.
Just about the author:
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J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most absorbing website, http://www.freeplants.comand sign up for his first-class horticulture newsletter.
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