Tulips care

Tulips care

Aug

20

Dividing Tulip Bulbs

Filed Under Gardening, Organic Gardening, Tulip Care | Leave a Comment

dividing tulip bulbs

Enjoy more flowers following this florist tip for dividing tulip bulbs.

 

The picture above shows two tulip bulbs. The tulip bulb on the left is the sort of bulb you would expect to buy and plant in the fall. The tulip bulb on the right shows what happens after blooming in the spring. Tulip bulbs can only grow to a certain size ater which they will split.

 

Without dividing these tulip bulbs and leaving them in the ground, the small bulbs will only produce foliage during the following spring. If that’s what you wish, then don’t bother dividing your tulip bulbs.

 

If you want to have lots of flowering tulip bulbs, you divide the bulbs:

 

  • plant the big tulip bulbs where you want to enjoy only flowers. The bigger the tulip bulb the better. Do check for any signs of disease or damage and discard those that look ill. A healthy tulip bulb should be firm, and have a protective papery skin surrounding it, something like an onion.
     
  • plant the healthy small tulip bulbs on an area where they can grow foliage and as such grow into bigger bulbs.

 

It is always best to replant tulips in a new location, yet I do have lots of tulips that return on the same spot each and every year without making any extra effort of dividing or replanting. And that’s how I enjoy gardening the most :-) .

 

When to divide tulip bulbs

 

Tulip bulbs can be dug up in June after the flowers are gone and re-planted in September.

 

For best results, try to dig up an entire clump of tulip bulbs soon after their foliage has withered yet still firmly attached to the bulb.

 

How to divide tulip bulbs

 

  • digg out a clump of tulip bulbs out of the ground, expect to dig holes from at least 20 cm or 8 inches deep and dig your hole at least 5 cm or 2 inches deeper than the bottom of the bulbs
     
  • carefully loosen all the dirt that surrounds the tulip bulbs and gently pull them up. Do loosen the dirt that’s underneath the bulbs as tulip roots grow deeper down than the bulb. Be extra careful as you extract this portion of the bulb
     
  • brush the soil away
     
  • divide the tulip bulbs in healthy ones (big and small) and discard the sick and rotten bulbs
     
  • wrap the tulip bulbs loosely in burlap sacks or brown paper bags

 

Keep your divided tulip bulbs in a cool, dry place until you will plant them again in the fall.

Apr

15

How to start an organic garden

Filed Under Organic Gardening | Leave a Comment

how to start an organic garden

Enjoy living for 100 years by going 100% organic. Learn step by step how to start an organic garden.

 

One thing all the people have in common in the so called "earth blue zones" – zones where people tend to live and enjoy life above 100 years old – is eating organic food.

 

Part of their daily exercise to get their organic food is growing and cooking it themselves. Both gardening and cooking are known for relieving stress. And we all know that less stress means more years to live!

 

Before you start an organic garden

 

Before you start you have to remember that the rainforest has the most abundant and differentiated plant life on earth, without any pesticides nor fertilizers. The common idea behind going organics is:

 

If you know how to take care of nature,
nature will take care of you.

 

Of course you don’t want the whole rainforest growing in your garden. You need to start small and once you see your success, start expanding your garden until you are completely organic.

 

Do know that lots of seeds sold in shops are produced to be used with chemicals. If you can find seeds and plants from organic farmers and organic gardeners, you are already 1 step closer to eating healthy fruits and vegetables from your own garden.

 

Step by step starting an organic garden

 

1. Start now

 

Seriously: start today as you have already everything you need to become an organic gardener.

 

2. Choose a spot where you want to start your organic garden

 

Think small: you are not growing plants for a living, but you want to start living healthy. A small organic garden takes less work and fewer materials than a large one.

 

Be surprised: a well-maintained 4 feet by 4 feet garden (1.20m x 1.20m) can grow all of the fresh vegetables that one person will eat.

 

Even if you live on an apartment: a window box or a few containers can be your start for a perfect organic garden. I grow tomatoes in any pot I can get my hands on!

 

3. Make a compost pile.

 

how to make organic soil

 

Before we tell you how to make organic soil: this is a little compost corner in the tiny organic garden of one of my children.

 

Compost is the most essential part of your organic garden. It’s as essential as water and food is for you. Best of all, making compost is free and you have lots of compost ingredients available.

 

Compost is the main ingredient of a rich organic soil. Use almost any kind of organic material that you find in your garden – fallen leaves and weeds – and any uncooked organic vegetable waste from your kitchen.

 

4. Make more soil

 

The key to organic agriculture is organic soil with lots of compost. This soil is rich in living organisms, especially earth worms which are the best creatures worldwide to make organic fertilizer. Best of all: they work for free!

 

Add as much organic material to your soil as you can because :

 

  • compost feeds your plants without chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers boost fast growth but don’t boost immunity therefore need chemical pesticides to survive. Compost fed plants grow slower because they also grow their own natural immune system.
     
  • compost loosens the soil, making it easier for you to shovel and easier for the roots to penetrate
     
  • compost improves both sand soil as clay soil to retain just an ideal amount of water and air to help your organic plants growing better.

   

5. Keep weeds under control

 

Remove any plants you don’t want to see in your garden. Give your produce a better start by seeding or planting them close together.

 

In a small garden, hand weed:

 

  • to reduce your own stress (it really works, try and see)
     
  • to remove the roots of perennial weeds that grow back
     
  • to carefully avoid uprooting the plants you do want.

 

dutch hoeIn a big organic garden, the utensil of choice is a Dutch hoe. It’s much easier and less tiring using a Dutch hoe compared to a traditional gooseneck style hoe.

 

My father always said: one good hoe is as good as one good watering. Meaning : hoe each area frequently enough to keep green weeds down and air the soil.

 

Make it difficult for weeds to grow:

 

  • plant thickly, particularly for ornamental or decorative areas. Companion plantings can fill in spaces in vegetable gardens: for more about companion plants, read My Organic Food Garden.
     
  • thickly mulch unplanted areas around plants and trees where you wish to have no weeds. Organic mulches include bark, wood chips and grass clippings. Mulch gradually breaks down and enriches the soil while controlling weeds.

 

6. Variety is king

 

Life brings life, it’s as simple as that in organic gardening.

 

ladybugInvite birds, worms, and friendly insects, for sure don’t kill ladybugs. Many creatures can help your garden. Learn which ones they friendly creatures are in My Organic Food Garden and arrange conditions to encourage them.

 

Your lawn goes against all rules of organic gardening; it’s a mono-culture. Consider sowing clover and other plants in, and don’t panic if a few weeds spring up.

 

If you have "too much lawn", consider using the area to grow organic chicken for the produce of organic eggs. You will earn some money in the process when you start selling your organic excess eggs you don’t consume yourself.

 

How to start an organic garden summarized

 

Always make the most of a small space and keep the example of the rain forest in mind: more variety is always better. Spaces that are planted thickly enough will leave no space for weeds to grow.

 

If you know how to take care of nature,
nature will take care of you

 

The basic rule for organic gardening is: variety is king. The basic ingredient for organic gardening is compost you make yourself for free.

 

Start on a small area and even in containers.

 

Learn more about how to start, grow, maintain and enjoy fruit and vegetables from your organic garden in My Organic Food Garden.