Gardeners Preparing for El Nino Too
Two-hundred-twenty days is a long time for a garden to go without rain, so tropical storm Nora turned out to be a relief, not the disaster predicted.
Its gentle rain cleaned off months and months worth of dust and dirt. Cracks in the soil closed, mulch again smelled good and a few of my most drought-tolerant plants got their first drink in many months.
Paving sparkled, and flowers that seemed washed out against dry tan dirt suddenly glowed against the dark, moist earth.
Which suggests that this El Nino year may not be a bad thing for all gardeners, at least for those of us who are not in harm’s way. I suspect that most of us can expect a nice wet winter, even if the rainfall is three times normal.
A wet winter will push salts from the soil. It will water plants whose roots are too deep to benefit from short irrigations. It will make lawns as green as Ireland, and anything planted now--or any time this fall--will grow with little help from the gardener.
If it stays wet long, we’ll have to keep out of garden beds so we don’t turn carefully prepared soil into compacted muck. And a few plants may get too wet--that’s happened during other rainy years--if the soil hasn’t been prepared properly or if they lie in low areas.
Turn and Amend Soil
When you’re planting this fall, make sure the soil is thoroughly turned and amended, so drainage is good. You might even mound the soil slightly to speed drainage. See that gutters are not emptying into garden beds and make sure excess water can drain from raised beds.
Unless you are gardening on treacherous ground, that’s just about all you have to do to get prepared for a real rainy season, except maybe buy a pair of tall rain boots for those muddy paths and puddles.
Of course, Nora might also be nearly our only rain this year, because El Nin~o years can also bring droughts, but I’m hoping for rain and planting accordingly.
Right now I’m putting long-lived bulbs, things like freesias, homerias and sparaxis--those bulbs that bloom for at least several weeks and grow with little care in our gardens.
But some of the showiest bulbs are showy for a very short time, like the cold-loving tulips. These generally flower for a week or less, and they will not flower again, lasting only a season in our mild gardens. Planting them in the ground, only to dig them up after they bloom, is more work than I think they’re worth.
But I’ve seen spectacular potted displays of tulips at places like Sherman Gardens in Corona del Mar, so this year I asked director Wade Roberts how they do it. It’s a bit of work, as it turns out, but here’s how.
First, cool the bulbs in a refrigerator for six to eight weeks. That means if you bought the tulip bulbs today, you couldn’t plant them until at least Nov. 16, but this cooling is critical, Roberts said, because it fools the bulbs into thinking they’ve experienced a real winter.
After refrigerating, plant them in pots. Put a square of window screening over the drainage hole and add some potting soil, mixing bulb fertilizer into this bottom layer.
Add a layer of sand next, so the bulbs have a thin cushion to sit on (which protects against rot), then plant the bulbs so they almost touch. Add more potting soil until the bulbs are covered with about an inch of potting soil and begin watering (being careful not to overwater).
This is pretty much how I’ve always planted, but Sherman Gardens goes one step further, putting pots in the shade and covering them with bark or shavings. That acts like an insulating blanket and keep the bulbs cool so they grow more roots before flowering and “the more rooting, the more flowers,” Roberts said. “The worst thing you can do is stick the planted bulbs out in the hot sun.”
When sprouts emerge, gently remove the bark or shavings and slowly move the pots into more and more sunlight. At Sherman, they fertilize only once, lightly, just as the buds form.
Easier Container Bulbs
Many other bulbs will also grow in containers, and most are a lot less work. They don’t need cooling and can be put out in the sun right away.
Ranunculus are easy in pots, and so are freesias, sparaxis, anemones, amaryllis and dozens more, but pots may be the best place for tulips, which last only a season, and keeping them cool and dark until they sprout is the secret to great flowers.
Sherman Gardens uses a basic commercial potting soil like the kind you can buy at a nursery, but I also came across some fun recipes for homemade bulb-potting soils, if you feel more adventuresome.
A huge spray of orange rose hips dangling from a climber outside my living room window reminds me of an annual autumn dilemma. At this time of year, do I cut off fall’s flowers on my rose bushes to encourage another round of bloom, or let them turn into hips?
In most of Southern California, the fall bloom is as spectacular as spring’s. As the flowers fade, they’ll turn into rose fruits, called hips. On some roses, they’re tiny and red like holly. On others, they’re big and orange, and you can even eat them (they’re bitter but high in vitamin C).
However, if you cut off the flowers before they make hips, you’ll probably get another cycle of bloom right around the December holidays. These won’t have time to turn into hips because roses get pruned in January.
If I decide on more flowers, then I cut off the spent blooms (just above a five-part leaf), fertilize and keep watering. If I go for hips, I leave the spent blooms on, stop fertilizing and water less often. They say this latter course of action is better for the rose, but I’ve never observed any difference.
So every year I debate the merits of more spring-like flowers in December or wintery hips instead.
Soil Mixes for Bulbs
Lean mix--for South African and South American bulbs:
3 parts washed builder’s sand
2 parts coarse peat moss
2 parts redwood soil amendment
1 parts perlite or pumice
Rich mix--for tulips, daffodils and other Dutch bulbs:
3 parts coarse peat moss
2 parts washed builder’s sand
2 parts commercial planting mix
1 part perlite or pumice
Source: The American Plant Life Society.
