The mint cutting is coming along nicely
Coming along nicely
My mint cutting is coming along extremely well. It’s been two weeks since I plopped in
unceremoniously into a vase full of water and the roots are growing at a
fantastic rate. It doesn’t take much to
entertain me so looking at the roots on the kitchen windowsill is just enough
excitement for me as I wash the pots.
Small pleasures.
I had a comment this week about how the roots in water don’t
seem as strong as conventional soil grown roots. They are right; the roots that grow in water
haven't come across much resistance in and have just glided through the smooth
liquid without a care in the world. A
thick gel might help a bit to get them accustomed to a bit of opposite force or
just planting them into the soil when new roots appear. But I have found that as a rule these
cuttings are generally grown for the enjoyment of just watching the roots grow,
children especially fid them fascinating. Get one of the Buncrana Camera Club
to film the process in stop motion and it’s nearly as dramatic as the Swilly
hotel fire video Adam Porter took last week!
Just as you thought there was a bit of time left to sit back
and relax in the garden, I am here to bring you down to earth with a bump and
remind you that it’s time to get the spring bulbs in. If you are like me and can only plan one day
ahead then be prepared for a shock as bulb planting means having to plan 6
months ahead! People manage it though
and the fact that garden centres have got them stacked floor to ceiling
certainly helps to remind us that the time is now.
Planting Bulbs for Spring
I’ve brought in James Kilkelly from the gardenplans forum to
give the heads up about successful bulb planting. James also runs a Garden
Design Diploma Course check out the Academy of Ireland website.
“Plant spring bulbs now and you can be sure of colour in the
New Year” James tells us. "It’s almost unheard of for a healthy bulb not
to flower the first season after planting."
Encourage good soil
conditions.
James continues. "Almost all bulbs that you plant for
spring flowering require a loose, open, porous, well-drained soil to prevent
bulb rot. To reach this ideal bulb growing soil, you can take the step of
amending it through the addition of soil improvers.
Start by working your soil over with a garden fork, digging
in coarse sand or grit throughout the top twelve to eighteen inches of soil as
you go. Do not remove any pre-existing small stones from the soil while you
work it, these help water movement, providing drainage as well as warmth to the
soil during winter. Along with sand/grit, the addition of organic matter such
as homemade compost, peat moss or wood shavings when worked through your soil
will aid bulb root development and improve drainage greatly on heavy clay
soils.
Plant at the correct
depth.
Too Shallow.
Beware planting your bulbs too shallowly as you may experience premature emerging
shoots, these are ones which are easily burned by frost. Another downside is
frost heaving, where the bulbs are pushed up out of soil by freezing
temperatures, if you have ever seen bulbs on the soils surface in spring, well
that’s frost heaving brought on by planting too shallowly. Aside from frost,
jackdaws, blackbirds and other round feeding birds can also damage shallow
bulbs by rooting them out and pecking them.
Too Deep.
Planting too deep can be even worse, with bulbs possibly not emerging at all
due too the long trip to the surface for their new shoots.
Depth. Bulb
packaging should have optimum planting depth instructions printed for you to
follow, but occasionally you will come across bulbs without planting depth
instructions. In this case you can usually get away with planting at a depth
that is twice the bulbs height.
This planting depth is measured from the base of the bulb,
resting on the soil in the hole to the existing topsoil level. Don’t forget,
daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, snowdrops etc must be planted with the root plate
pointing downward and the pointy top or nose of the bulb pointing upward. This
gets the flower growing in the right direction from day one, and prevents the
shoot from having to take a wrong turning.
Ways of planting.
If you have just dug over your bed with a garden fork, then
it is possible to press each bulb down into the fluffy soil and then cover it
with soil. This is a quick and easy way to go about your planting, but you must
ensure the ideal bulb depth is used and that the bulbs are not damaged in the
pressing process.
You may instead opt for a bulb planting tool. With its
graduations down the side, this shiny digging implement is a good aid to ensure
correct planting depths. However when I was starting out, a trusty hand trowel
and a length of stick cut to the desired planting depth were just as good, and
one less tool to buy for a cash-strapped gardener.
No matter what you use when creating the individual planting
holes, you should always loosen the soil below which the bulb will sit on,
adding a shake of sharp sand to aid drainage. It will also benefit the initial
root development of the bulb to mix a slow release fertiliser into the soil at
the bulbs base, fertilisers such as “Bulb Booster”, or “Super phosphate” are
perfect for this purpose. Press the upright bulb down firmly onto this mix and
cover with similarly fertiliser and sand amended soil.
If you follow the rules as to soil improvement and bulb
planting depth, then you will be well on your way to flowers next spring, and
the year after, and the year after that."
