About Long Island Gardener Expertise Growing Tulips? Dahlias? Daffodils? Gladiolus? It doesn't get easier than bulbs and tubers. Once in a while, something goes wrong: The dreaded Narcissus Bulb Fly, which resembles a honeybee. Mosaic virus, which can ignite a field of tulips in a single season. Nematodes, lurking underground. Here on the North Shore of Long Island, the garden is full of surprises. If you live in the Northeast/Atlantic Coast, I can help you pick the right bulb for every season, indoors and out, and help you fertilize, bloom and harvest for home or work. How: I have degrees in related fields, but my best understanding is all learned from trial and error. For most of my 53 years I have been gardening somewhere. No matter what the problem, I've learned the best answers are always Organic -- Earth friendly, less expensive, healthier for people and pets, easier and cleaner than toxic liquids and powders that big chemical companies sell so smoothly.
Experience Besides degrees in related fields, and a few favorite horticultural societies, I work as a docent at our local botanical gardens -- but it's the years of work in the garden that's the real test.
Question Could you please advise me on the best way to store my Glad bulbs for the winter. I live in Northern Alberta Canada, Zone 2 I believe.
Answer Use a pitchfork to dig your Gladiolus bulbs up when growth the leaves turn brown, before a real freeze renders the soil surface hard as a rock.
Cut foliage off right above the Bulbs. Toss out diseased Glads. Let them sit a month someplace cool and dry, then wash them well, getting rid of the dried up roots. (Leave husks on.) You can find some good drawings of this at Illinois Coooperative Extension:(
www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/bulbs/bulbbasics.html
This is a tricky autumn responsibility, Margaret. For me, this would not be the first year I failed to dig my Gladiolus Bulbs up because I waited too long. Two years ago, our first hard freeze seemed to come out of nowhere; the ground was solid rock after that. To my amazement, half my Gladioli survived -- thanks to good luck and excellent drainage.
