When to plant bulbs - Denton - Tx area

[jannz]

Hi -

I'm wondering when the best time to plant bulbs are -- I've ordered some dayliles & daffodils for our country property.

Thanks

Jann

[dragonfly]

Anytime from now to December.

[chuckfranke]

I am a bulb fanatic - Here in North Texas i have found that Refrigerating bulbs like Tulips and then not putting them into the ground til January yields best results. if you plant them right now without chilling them you will have problems due to our climate.

Some bulbs are really easy - plant blue grape hyacinths any time - I started with 100 of the things 5 years ago and after several years of seperating and spreading them I have thousands each spring and they are beautiful. Other very hardy items are paperwhite, daffodils, and crocus. For the sensitive ones I use a couple of monster coolers (actually plastic truck toolboxes and put the bulbs in, cover with DRY peat moss and then keep it all cold by adding large ice blocks (frozen 1 gallon jugs of water) since I can't fit 3000 bulbs in the fridge and I am a fanatic for bulbs.

For fertilizer I recently switched to using the organic Rose food from Rhodes in Garland (forget the name of it) it has rock phosphate which works fahboolus. Another wonderful bulb here in N TX is the amaryllis - I force them indoors each winter and then move them to the garden in Spring. I started with one bulb 20 years ago... it was an offshoot of one of my sister's bulbs which she got from our grandfather... who had gotten it from his grandfather. Now I keep about a dozen baseball-softball sized bulbs that give 3-8 huge flowers every Christmas. You can get these for cheap at any garden store or wal-mart. I will be digging them up in another few weeks, letting the green part die off (returns the nutrients to the bulb and then storing them til around Thanksgiving before potting them and watering them - I give away 5-6 as gifts every year and believe me - they are great! Forcing Hyacinths indoors will make your entire house smell wonderful. I am from the 'winter sucks' school of thought and flowers all winter make me smile.

For your bulb beds you need to do a little work. Mine have about 10" of compost and decayed hardwood mulch and drain pretty well. Try a little cornmeal mixed in to prevent rot - if you stick bulbs like tulips into gumbo they will rot, need some air and drainage.

I also type too much, still awake?

[khwoz]

Still awake! :D Thanks for your info. on bulbs; I love them also esp. amaryllis.

[drchelo]

And to keep squirrels from digging up and eating your bulbs of any kind, I have had success with using a combination of Louisiana hot sauce and dog hair. The hot sauce does not harm them, and the dog hair will decompose into nitrogen slowly.