Bulb Planting Tips

Tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and crocus offer a profusion of color for your garden next spring. The best time to plant these bulbs is now, in October. The soil temperature is cooler, but still warm enough to allow the bulbs to root before winter sets in.  When planning your bulb garden, it’s important to decide whether you’re going to plant a formal bed or scatter the bulbs throughout your landscape for a more natural look. 

There are several advantages to planting your bulbs in your perennial beds or open spaces. You’ll be adding early color to an otherwise bare space in your gardens and as your perennials emerge, they’ll help mask the bulb foliage as it fades. Whichever plan you choose, selects sites where your bulbs will receive at least 6 hours of sunlight. Bulbs will do okay in partial shade, but bloom best in full sun. With your plan in place, the next step is bulb selection. In addition to color, bloom time and height are important factors. Crocus are the earliest of the spring blooming bulbs, followed by hyacinths, daffodils, then early, mid-season and late tulips. 

Choose bulbs that are firm and covered by their natural papery wrapping.  Prepare the planting site by amending your existing soil with organic material, such as Sheep, Peat and Compost. 

 Add some Dutch Bulb Food to the ground before you place your bulbs, so the roots will grow into the fertilizer. Once the site is prepared, plant the bulbs pointed side up, at a depth that’s equal to three times the bulb’s height. A two-inch bulb should be planted six inches deep. For best visual effect, plant bulbs in clusters of three or more. Cover the bulbs and mark the spot where they are planted. Water the site thoroughly. Check on your bulbs through the winter. They should be watered every four to five weeks, along with the rest of the trees and shrubs in your landscape.   

How to Vine Ripen Tomatoes

Find yourself with more green tomatoes than ripe ones right now? Getting tomatoes to ripen on the vine this late in the season comes down to three things: pruning, picking and protecting. Begin by removing any dead, diseased or damaged stems and leaves. Plant pruning will help redirect energy towards ripening existing fruit. 

Root pruning will also encourage ripening. To root prune, simple stick a shovel or trowel six to eight inches deep into the ground, all the way around your tomato plant. This will chop off the ends of the roots and force the plant to stop new growth. With those root ends clipped off the tomato plant goes into fruit production mode. It should be noted that root pruning will dramatically decrease the life of your plant. 

Pick off flowers, small fruit and any tomatoes that are soft to the touch or showing signs of disease.  If your vines are loaded, pick a few and bring them inside to ripen. Removing excess fruit will encourage the remaining tomatoes to ripen. 

Protect your plants at night by covering them with an insulating material. Tomatoes need more than sixty degrees of temperature to ripen properly. With nighttime temperatures dropping into the fifties, keeping your plants warm will keep fruit ripening.  Prune, pick, protect; three things you can do to speed up the vine-ripening process. If it gets too late in the season, you can always pick the just-ripening fruit and bring your harvest indoors to finish the ripening process.