Warm afternoons have brought on a flush of new blooming bulbs that are even tough to keep up with my daily photography. The bulb to the right is called striped squill (
Puschkinia libanotica). This bulb, planted in October, sends up a cluster of bell-shaped blooms reminiscent of Siberian squill (
Scilla siberica). Each flower petal has a thin, sky blue line running thru the middle. This photo doesn't catch it real well but these are great bulbs to plant
en masse and are effective under deciduous trees as they will bloom and go dormant before the tree leaves have fully emerged and cast deeper shade. We have used this bulb extensively in some of our lawns as well. The intent of a "bulb lawn" is to have very early bulbs poke up and bloom above dormant turf and subsequently go dormant by the time you have to do your first spring mowing. The Siberian squill (typcally blue or white) is effective for this as well. Visitors will start to see our bulb lawns come to life soon. We will then mow these lawns (including the bulb foliage) after Mother's Day. We've had these bulbs come up reliably for years. Planting can be done with a "dibble" or better yet, aerate your lawn in October and use those little plug holes as a start for putting these little bulbs 2" in the soil.
Our bagged mushroom compost sale started last Saturday and continues to be very successful. We'll end up selling over 1800 bags of this wonderful organic amendment over all the Saturdays in April and May. Be wary of what might be termed "mushroom compost" or "mushroom soil". True mushroom compost is the byproduct of a mushroom farm. The primary ingredient is aged horse manure. Our bagged mix contains this manure, peatmoss and shredded bark fines. The material is great for incorporating in to garden soil and is also an effective topdressing in the garden that will eventually enrich the soil over time. We utilize over 300 cubic yards of this material every year in the garden. Our annual beds get 2" of compost annually and we use this as a topdressing around perennials. When spreading compost around existing perennials, be sure to taper it away from the base (or crown) of the plant as the compost may retain a lot of moisture in that vicinity and shouldn't be mounded directly around the base of the plant. Mushroom compost is also slightly alkaline which might be an issue in soils that you are trying to acidify. The other comment regarding this material is that not all plants require rich soils to perform well. In fact, there are many perennials that prefer "lean" soils. Overly rich (or composted) soils, while encouraging active growth, may make these plants go "gang-busters" and produce lots of overly large, floppy foliage. Sedums are a good example. They can take pretty tough soils and would be very top-heavy and floppy if planted in our composted annual beds for example. Regardless, organic amendments like mushroom compost help enrich the soil and can benefit plants of all kinds. We even use some in our containers! Morning glory teaser below:
Our bagged mushroom compost sale started last Saturday and continues to be very successful. We'll end up selling over 1800 bags of this wonderful organic amendment over all the Saturdays in April and May. Be wary of what might be termed "mushroom compost" or "mushroom soil". True mushroom compost is the byproduct of a mushroom farm. The primary ingredient is aged horse manure. Our bagged mix contains this manure, peatmoss and shredded bark fines. The material is great for incorporating in to garden soil and is also an effective topdressing in the garden that will eventually enrich the soil over time. We utilize over 300 cubic yards of this material every year in the garden. Our annual beds get 2" of compost annually and we use this as a topdressing around perennials. When spreading compost around existing perennials, be sure to taper it away from the base (or crown) of the plant as the compost may retain a lot of moisture in that vicinity and shouldn't be mounded directly around the base of the plant. Mushroom compost is also slightly alkaline which might be an issue in soils that you are trying to acidify. The other comment regarding this material is that not all plants require rich soils to perform well. In fact, there are many perennials that prefer "lean" soils. Overly rich (or composted) soils, while encouraging active growth, may make these plants go "gang-busters" and produce lots of overly large, floppy foliage. Sedums are a good example. They can take pretty tough soils and would be very top-heavy and floppy if planted in our composted annual beds for example. Regardless, organic amendments like mushroom compost help enrich the soil and can benefit plants of all kinds. We even use some in our containers! Morning glory teaser below:
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