HELP!!! What have I gotten myself into???
kindred_ny
12 years ago
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kindred_ny
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoJohn Tebbs
12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Now I've gotten myself all confused. Couple questions
Comments (1)The general method of garlic growing is plant in the fall, harvest the next summer. Save your biggest bulbs for planting that fall. At planting time, you pop the cloves, and plant them individually. Then repeat following years. What you have sounds alot like my mom's elephant garlic plot I helped clean up a few years ago. It had been neglected for seveal years. A couple of the years my step-father tilled the area in teh fall when everything was dead, and covered with chopped leaves and grass clippings from the yard, hoping to smother everything. I told him all the tilling did was spread the bulbs and cloves around, and the mulching was really protecting and feeding them. The soil was awesome! Then it was just left a couple of years. So what we had were bulbs that died back in the summer/fall, and the cloves then started growing new bulbs. Not every bulb or clove survived, but I pulled some of the biggest clumps of the tiniest elephant garlic you will ever see. Plus some reasonable sized ones, and rounds, and even 2 truly sized elephant garlic bulbs. I did pick the scapes first. I ended up with 2 brown paper grocery bags full of scapes! What we did, and what my recommendation would be to you is: -- We pulled it all in the summer just as leaf die back started, maybe a bit earlier than ideal, but we wanted to clean it up. -- The small bulbs (and rounds) that were generally unusable for planting and to small or annoying to process in anyway, were composted. -- The biggest bulbs (and rounds) were kept for seed garlic. My mom kept only enough to grow the amount she wanted the next year, plus I got some. -- Everything left over was put aside for use in the kitchen and to be given away. I believe the bulbils you planted will produce what are called rounds. It looks like one clove that didn't divide. Those can be picked and dried and re-planted and they will produce a bulb the following year. Good luck....See MoreOif, what have I gotten myself into?!
Comments (2)Hello, Bubbledragon! And welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of Hippeastrums! It sounds like you did great... keep a close eye on watering... they cannot tolerate over-watering, and tend to rot from the roots up if they stay too wet for too long! Please post some photos... we just love checking out everyone's bulbs! And keep reading past posts here... there's tons of great information on the culture of these beautiful and habit-forming plants!...See MoreRibbon grass - what have I gotten myself into?
Comments (3)There are several different varieties of Ribbon Grass. Some are very invasive, and others aren't. In any case, in your zone, you should be able to control it pretty easily. Don't over-water it. Use physical barriers to control it's spread. Root prune it to maintain the size you want. Shovel prune it to keep it out of places you don't want it to go. Finally, there are lots and lots of grasses which are just as easy to grow, just as attractive and not at all invasive. Don't limit yourself to one type of grass. There are so many other forms, textures and colors to play with in the grass world....See Morei can't help myself any longer - i simply have to share!!!
Comments (14)Oh, well. At least you know how to kill them. :) Callas do well. I have them on a western exposure about a foot from the house in almost full sun and tucked in behind some liriope and in front of Indian Hawthorne. (Before I had them in a more exposed area and they froze back to the ground and only got six inches tall). They are twelve to eighteen inches high and stay evergreen except for as few months in the summer. (They are evergreen from September through June and bloom in April.) Cannas do well also, but there are the dreaded canna leaf roller caterpillars than I keep fighting. Hostas do much better in pots than in the ground because they get colder in the winter and the drainage is better. I have Patriot hostas and some of their offspring.) You might want to check out the daylily festival in Abbeville. It should be coming up soon. You can grow evergreen daylily varieties. As far as the amaryllis, I have several. You can pick them up at Wal-Mart and Lowes around Christmas for a few dollars a piece. They are evergreen and bloom right now. Also, there are a lot of cool gingers you can grow. Check out gingerwood nursery online. It is located right outside Baton Rouge. Tim Chapman is the owner and he is on the ginger forum and is real good about answering questions. The white butterfly ginger (Hedychium) is really nice and spreads rapidly and is junglesque. I also like crinum and eucomis. They do well. A rapidly spreading plant is mexican petuia (ruellia). I have purple and pink ones that get three feet high and are covered with flowers all summer. I could send you some seeds later in the summer if you remind me. The evergreen dwarf agapanthus are really nice too. Home Depot has them right now. As far as reading, you might want to check out Louisiana Gardener (it is the only magazine I get) and Southern Livings Garden Guide (an encyclopedia of 5,000 plants) and Louisiana Gardener's Guide by Dall Gill and Garden Perennial for the Coastal South by Barbara Sullivan (Beautiful pictures and some different plants)...See Moremike_kaiser_gw
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12 years agolast modified: 9 years agoMarvin Forssander-Baird
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