Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display



Get Landscape and Gardening Info on mps-landscaping-gardening.com. Mulch Your Spring Flower Bulbs in the Fall for a Beautiful Spring Display topic will increase your understanding on Landscape and Gardening Info. We at mps-landscaping-gardening.com only provide news, articles, information in Landscape and Gardening Info. Landscape and Gardening Info at mps-landscaping-gardening.com provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Flower bulbs need a good, long, winter’s sleep. Like some people we know, if they wake up before they are fully rested 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 come out of dormancy early. They start to grow, and once the tips emerge above the soil line, they are subject to freezing if the temperatures dip back down below freezing. And that’s usually what happens. After the bulbs have emerged, they freeze and then don’t bloom at all, or if they do it’s a very sad display.

Another reason this happens is because the bulbs are not planted deep enough. They may have been deep enough when you planted them, but as the soil goes through the freezing and thawing process, the bulbs can actually work their way up in the ground. One way to keep your flower bulbs sleeping longer, which will protect them from freezing, is to mulch the bed.

In the fall just apply a 3-4” layer of well composted mulch. This layer of mulch will do a couple of things. It will maintain a higher moisture content in the soil, which is good as long as the soil isn’t too soggy. Well composted mulch also adds valuable organic matter to the planting bed. Organic matter makes a great natural fertilizer.

A 3-4” layer of mulch also acts as an insulator. It will keep the soil from freezing for a while, which is good because you don’t want the bulbs going through a series of short cycles of freezing and thawing. Then when the temperatures drop below freezing and stay there for a while, the soil does eventually freeze. Then the mulch actually works in reverse and keeps the soil from thawing out too early. Keeping it in a frozen state is actually good 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 will not be damaged. If you can keep them from freezing, they will flower beautifully. The extra organic matter will help to nourish the bulbs when they are done blooming, and the cycle starts all over again.

We also 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 ready to be removed. The mulch that is added in the fall also 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.

You are welcome to use this article on your website or In your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. Website URLs must be active links. You are welcome to use this article with an affiliate link, http://www.freeplants.com/resellers.htm



Become Pregnant. - Become Pregnant. I thought I was infertile Now I have 2 beautiful children, naturally conceived. You can too.
The Weekend Gardener. - The Busy Persons Guide to a Beautiful Backyard Garden!


Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33


More Articles:


1. Garden Swings Create an Enchanted Garden Setting By Jennifer Akre
Nothing invites one to sit and enjoy a lovingly created and tended garden quite the way that a garden swing does. Only from the perch of a gently swaying garden swing can one fully appreciate the bounty of nature complete with the subtle flowery and earthy smells of the garden. From this vantage point, one could relax for hours while meditating, reading or simply enjoying the antics of the wildlife.Strategically placed garden swings draw people to them as if by magic. It seems that even if som…

2. The Difference Between Large and Small Ponds By Brett Fogle
If you think that a large pond is simply a small pond that "grew up", you're in for some pond maintenance problems. Let's start off my defining the terms that we'll be using here. A large pond is anything over 1,000 gallons (5,000 liters). A pond that holds over 4,000 gallons (20,000 liters) is a very large pond.Large ponds require a whole different level of financial and time committment than small ponds do. You'll need larger and more efficient pumps and filters as well as the additional plu…

3. Winterizing Your Pond By Brett Fogle
For many parts of the country, it's getting to be that time of year again. Time to start thinking about getting your fish and plants ready for old man winter...Every year, as the weather gets colder and we start heading into winter, many of our customers ask us how to prepare their ponds for winter. Pond owners should be aware of several simple things to do in preparing their ponds for colder months.Fish and plants need very different things in the winter, but can be kept in top condition for …

4. 7 Factors Needed for a Compost Pile By James Ellison
Compost, made from decomposed grass clippings, leaves, twigs, and branches, becomes a dark, crumbly mixture of organic matter.Learn how composting works. Even a newbie to composting can make good quality compost. It can be compared to cooking as art or part science. The following 7 factors will help you master the art of composting.1. Materials After a time anything that was once alive will naturally decompose. But, not all organic items should be composted for the home. To prepare compost, o…