Rewards to be found on a dreary Saturday..

After the fantastic warm weather we have had recently Easter has turned out to be cool and damp. Disappointing if you are here in France for a holiday, but not so bad for us gardeners as there are things to do now which will benefit from a few wet days

This weekend I am going to attend to our daffodils. I am not going to cut them back, it is far too early for that – I have problems to address. We have several clumps of daffodils which have gone blind – that is they no longer flower. Each year we get only a big clump of leaves. These daffodils have been in their current position for many years and have either grown into a clump which is too big to flower or have become surrounded by shrubs and trees which are taking all the goodness from them. They may even have been planted too shallowly originally. They are no longer in the right place and they need to be moved.

Most bulbs need to be plants deeply, normally at least twice the depth of the bulb itself. They should not be crowded and they need nutritious soil. A bulb is basically a storage organ composed of embryo leaves with a potential flower bud in the centre. Each year, when it develops leaves, the leaves feed the bulb, creating food by photosynthesis and then passing that food back down to the bulb to be stored. The bulb then goes into a period of rest until conditions tell it to grow again the following year. This is why you must never cut back the leaves of bulbs too early – you are taking away their source of food. It is also why you should only buy and plant big firm bulbs and not soft weak ones.

Over the years the bulb reproduces in two ways. Sexually,by setting seed or, asexually by creating bulblets which develop on its side. These bulblets grow into full sized bulbs and the whole plant becomes so congested that you need to lift it, divide it and replant the individual bulbs somewhere else. A good time to do this is when it is in leaf (or ‘in the green’). It almost goes without saying that the new bulbs are genetically identical to the parent, so you will get identical plants from them, whereas bulbs grown from seed carry the characteristics of both parents so will be slightly different from one another.

Anyway – that is the position we are in with some of our bulbs here. They have gone blind and today I am going to lift them, divide them by gently pulling each bulb away from its neighbours and untangling roots as I go. Then I can plant them deeply and individually elsewhere – with the leaves still attached and working hard to nourish the replanted bulb for another month or so. Snowdrops can be treated in the same way once their flowers have died back….lift and divide them every few years and not only are you getting plants for free but you are speeding up the creation of an annual carpet of spring flowers. It is also a good idea to feed your bulbs once they have flowered to help them build up for the following year.

I have actually posted a photo of our wisteria with this blog – I know it is not a daffodil but it cheers me up to think that warm weather is round the corner!