Starting A New Veggie and Flower Bulb Garden

Sweet violets brighten shady areas.

As do begonias.

Veggie seedlings getting ready for transplanting.

Veggies seeded a month ago finally germinating in this warm weather.

Paperwhites.

Sunflower.

Tomato hanging on with much foliage and even some blossoms. We'll see how soon a tomato will set.

Single chard plant resprouting galore.

Wando pea set.

Sweet Pea Shrub - Polygala × dalmaisiana.

Poinsettia, bladderpod, and upcoming chasmanthe.

Statice, Limonium.

First camellia.

Begonia backlit and frontlit - beautiful from both sides.
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Amaryllis bulbs just potted up.

First alstroemeria.

Other first alstroemeria.

Salvia with upcoming chasmanthe foliage.

Another salvia.

First yellow chasmanthe bloom.

First red-orange chasmanthe bloom.

First stock blossom. So fragrant! Seeded pathways and in beds. Easy to transplant.

Tangelo fruit. Nasturtium foliage coming up from years-ago seeding.

Pink crinum just opening up.

     This week’s Springy warmth enables us to open our doors and windows to allow the balmy weather to flow all around with great pleasure.  I even took off my sweatshirt that’s been keeping me on the barely-warm side of chilly for so long!  And the cool-season seeds that I’d sowed in pots and in the ground a month ago are finally sprouting – a good two weeks longer than it should have taken them!  Finally we’ve got a good start to lettuces, carrots, beets and chard, kale, turnips, broccoli raab and tatsoi.  The artichoke seedlings that had germinated earlier are putting out their third and fourth leaves.  All due to the mid-70-degree daytime gloriousness.  With this coming Thursday’s forecast for more rain, I’ll make a point to sow more of all of these on Wednesday to add to the continuing bounty.
 
Planting Flower Bulbs
     I’ve taken advantage of several last-of-the-season sales of flower bulbs from Easy To Grow Bulbs -- https://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/ – including amaryllis, daffodils, daylilies, gladiolus, bearded iris, Japaniese iris, tigridias, freesias and anemones and ranunculus.
Amaryllis bulbs should be planted so the top half of the bulbs is above the soil or potting mix. 
Daffodils I just planted may or may not bloom later this spring, but I’ll count on them to root well and pump in more energy before the foliage dies back with the warmth of early summer.
Daylilies already established in my garden are just sending up their foliage, so the newly-planted ones will catch up in a month or two; but I’ll again expect them to concentrate on strengthening their root systems rather than expect them to bloom this time around.
Gladiolus bulbs will certainly have time to establish themselves and probably bloom later in warm weather.
Bearded iris going in now will definitely need several months to establish themselves because the rhizomes are so small and will need perhaps the entire year to create well-established plants in order to bloom.  If I was dividing any of my existing reblooming irises, I’d expect them to bloom in the fall since I’d choose to replant large segments.  I’m concentrating on adding only rebloomer irises to my garden so I’ll be able to enjoy fall color as well as in spring.
Japanese iris rhizomes are much larger than the bearded ones, so I may get color later, but certainly next spring after a year’s growth.
Tigridias I tried years ago but they didn’t do well, so am trying again now.  We’ll see!
Freesias are among my favorite spring flowers, and I’ve been lucky enough to have an exquisite pinky-purple one proliferate so much that I’ve spread it along both sides of my long driveway.  Now, I’ve planted a variety of colors along the pinky ones, so I hope the display will be even nicer.
Anemones are perhaps the weirdest-looking bulbs, with corms looking like uneven blobs that you can’t tell which side is up, so you just have to plunk them into their holes and hope that the roots and stems don’t waste too much energy trying to figure out which goes in which direction.
Ranunculus corms look like little claws that need to be planted with their “fingers” pointing down.
 
     While I generally try to dissuade gardeners from purchasing late-season sale bulbs from local stores because they’ve been warm and on display since the fall and therefore are pretty dessicated, the Easy To Grow bulbs are stored under ideal conditions until shipped out on individual orders.  I’ve been extremely pleased with the quality and condition of my orders over the last couple of months.  Of course, it’s best to open the newly-arrived packages immediately after receiving them to let the bulbs “breathe” and then plant the bulbs as soon as possible to enable their roots to begin establishing themselves.
 
For more garden tasks, see February
 
For past blogs on main winter topics, see homepage

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