Dear Helen: Last October, I wrote to ask about choosing a container size for planting tulips I had bought, and how close together to plant them. The potted tulips were a delight this spring. Now, I’m wondering how to save the bulbs for blooming again next year.
K.S.
As long as there is a spot in the garden for them, the bulbs can be replanted for more bloom next spring. Tulips tend not to do well when saved for growing a second time in pots.
The tulips can be allowed to die back naturally during the post-bloom period and then stored in a cool, dark place, in or out of the pot, for replanting in early autumn, but my preference is to unpot the plants, separate them carefully and transplant into a prepared garden site where they can die back.
I have used a strip along a fence line for this, after digging compost and fertilizer into the soil. The tulips planted there became a source of springtime cut flowers.
Tulip bulbs planted in the open garden commonly give about three years of good bloom. This time period will vary with the tulip type. Some of the most long-lived tulips are to be found among the Darwin Hybrids. Deep planting, up to a depth of 30 cm, also helps to delay division in the bulbs and prolong their flowering lifetime.
Dear Helen: Is it safe to harvest vegetables from areas where cats have used my raised beds as a litter box?
G.R.
You don’t say whether you have meticulously removed every bit of cat feces, along with five centimetres of soil under and around it, as soon as it was deposited. If you have not, you need to be aware of the dangers to human health posed by the feces.
Cat feces can contain a multitude of parasites that can affect humans. These parasites include roundworm, hookworm, tapeworm and another that causes toxoplasmosis, a disease dangerous to anyone with a comprised immune system and to pregnant women. The disease is known to cause birth defects.
The best course of action is to keep empty beds, or empty portions of beds, covered with wire mesh wherever neighbourhood cats roam, to prevent their making unwelcome deposits.
To be sure of being safe, I would harvest and use only those vegetables that will be thoroughly cooked after being carefully washed. The cooking will kill harmful organisms.
Dear Helen: We have tried several different herbicides and other treatments to eradicate horsetail from the garden. Nothing has worked. Any ideas?
B.H.
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) is an ancient, primitive plant that spreads not only by creeping rootstocks but also by spores. In common horsetail the fertile, spore-bearing branches appear first, in early spring, and are followed by growth bearing whorls of slender green stems radiating from joints on the hollow main stem. It is important not to let the fertile first growth mature and release spores.
Where horsetail is growing in areas outside garden beds, laying down thick black plastic for a year or more will help to subdue horsetail. For appearances, a mulch such as shavings or bark can be placed over top and planted pots arranged on the area.
Horsetail in planted beds can be curbed over time by keeping its top growth cut down. As long as the ground is thoroughly dampened, digging some of the horsetail out close to established plants with an asparagus type forked weeder would not likely harm the plants.
In areas between plants, dig out as much as possible of the roots pushing up shoots. Roots are easiest to lift out when the soil is moist and soft.
GARDEN EVENTS
Garden picnic. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is hosting a Picnic in the Gardens event this evening from 5 to 8. This is the first in a series of four picnic evenings. Bring along a picnic and enjoy your meal in a beautiful setting while listening to live music. Admission is by donation. Details at hcp.ca.
