This year, pulling the tubers out of the ground, was less daunting and unsure... rather I was confident of the process as I "snip snip snip"d. One big clump of tubers became 5+ new tubers. I decided to store them the exact same way that I stored last winter. They did super well in containers of vermiculite, tucked away in shelves in the garage (popped open a little bit, to let some air in). Not one tuber rotted... or dried out last spring, so it just felt like a good system to repeat again this year. I needed MANY more bins, and MUCH more vermiculite compared to last year. But they're asleep and resting...
I've never dug up gladiolus before (this was the first year that I planted them)... but with some great advice from a friend of the family... they were dug up, dried out, and split. I went from 60 bulbs to 90+ to plant next year. I tucked them into paper bugs and currently they're sleeping the winter away in my closet of the laundry room.
The sunflowers did super well this year. I didn't plant as many as I would like to plant next year. They're such a great in-between color for Summer into Fall, and so I was hoping to harvest more seeds this year for a bigger turn out next year. I let a few of the biggest heads "go to seed", and not one bird had a feast on them, so we should have a decent, "free" patch of sunflowers next year.
It was super tough digging up my spring garden of ranunculus, tulips and narcissus this year year... I let them sit for far too long, and hardly could find them to dig them up this fall. Next year, I'll have to remember to get that done as a beginning to mid summer chore. It was neat to see again, how the bulbs multiply. I'm still not sure what I'm doing with ranunculus... they are such a touchy flower. My goal this winter, is to educate myself on them a little more. They're such a pretty addition to a spring bouquet, that it would be nice to figure out how to get the "most" out of them, since they're pretty expensive (and I don't think the corms multiply, the same way that other spring bulbs do!)
I tilled the areas of the garden that would be the spring garden, and created troughs to tuck away all the spring bulbs. As many as I bought, it still felt minuscule to the size I'd eventually love the spring garden to be. I need to remind myself, a little more and more each year. This upcoming spring, will already be 5x the size of my last spring garden. I let the littles help me "plop" them in, and the sweetest was Mable. She held onto each bulb, gave it a little squeeze, and rocked it while singing songs to them. She kept referring to them as "Mum's fower babies." (flower, of course)... and gave a little kiss to each one that she put in the ground. I just know they're destined to be beautiful come spring, thanks to her sweet love.
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