Tulips can be planted with no special treatment as long as you can still dig the holes for them. Kansas should definitely provide enough winter cooling for flowers next spring, even from a November planting, although the bloom is likely to be later than if the planting were in the ground earlier. They definitely benefit from being lifted and reset every year; however some judicious fertilization a couple of times in the spring will result in better year to year survival without digging. Or they can be treated like an annual display. I plant my tulips with my garlic. I lift both yearly and if the stems are left intact my tulips of all sizes cure very nearly 100%. They are lifted earlier than the garlic though and are definitely cured before the garlic is ready to dig; so the tulips are done and stored before the racks are needed for the alliums.

DTM on most varieties is 60-65 days so it is easy to plant in Sept. and get a crop by end of October into early November. My official first frost date isn't until Nov. 10 but it is usually much later than that because of my zone 7 micro-climate here by the lake. These are quite frost tolerant so I am usually still harvesting well into Nov. or even early Dec. I don't know your first frost date down there but I'd expect it to be later than mine so adjust planting time accordingly. Dave

garliclady - thanks for the information on the varieties that work for you. I ordered a one pound sampler from Charley's Farm. It arrived today, and the garlics are beautiful. I got: Asian Tempest, Gigantus (Rocambole), Chesnok Red, Polish Hardneck, Early Red Italian, Thermadrome and Silver White. All in all, I am very pleased with the good variety they sent, and I have taken one clove of each to taste. So far, I am much impressed!! :) The bulbs are all fresh and large. I have sent an inquiry to a grower for some Music if they have any left....I really would like some good large true garlic. I also have about a dozen huge cloves of elephant garlic that I grew myself, which I will plant next month, but I'd really like at least that much more of it. Trouble is, it's so darn expensive. What I grew was from an organic clove I bought at the grocery store. If you should happen to find out when the garlic festival in MD will be, and where, please do let me know. Thanks so much

Dang! 150 plants? I hope you sell them or something! I'd really like to have some tomatoes to take me up to first frost (mid November). When should I plant these seeds? June 1 is a good date for tomatoes with, say, a 90-day maturity date (approximate only), and I'd start them in open flats in the sun outside, or even direct-sown where you want them to grow -- it's warm enough that they'll germinate, and you won't have to harden them off. If you get them into the ground 6 weeks later, that would be about July 15, and you'd have production starting about October 15 for a few weeks. Shorter-season tomatoes would give you more weeks of fall production than the "90-dayers". You might prefer the indeterminates that continue to produce once they begin, but there are a few really good determinates that would work well, too, spending their energy to produce a crop all at once. If you planted several varieties of determinates with different maturation dates, you'd have a steady supply that way, too, as fall approaches. It's just preference, though, not a big deal!