Flower of the Month- Tulips

Tulips - unlike many of their spring-blooming bulb counterparts, aren't reliable perennial. The first year they come on strong. The second not so showy and the third, just some leaves. Keep the tulips going longer by doing the following... For tips and the rest of the article click on link

I have found a great PDF file from Gardening-Guides.com that you can download called "Let's Grow Tulips." It's about 6 pages and tells how to care for them, how to grown them, how to use as cut flowers, much more.

Double click on link and save to download-  "Let's Grow Tulips"

Think clean if you plan to raise your own garden plants from seed. The dreaded damping-off fungus disease lurks in containers that haven't been thoroughly disinfected and in used potting media.

In you are using last year's flats and cell packs, wash them with hot water and some bleach. Be sure to buy sterilized seed started. Fill your containers to about a half-inch from the top, then moisten the mix. If using a community pot, sprinkle the seeds on top, spacing them evenly, then cover as directed on the seed packet and spray them with tepid water to bring the seeds into good contact with the medium. Cover the container with a clear cover. Keep the medium moist but not soggy.

If you are planting in 1 inch cells, use one or two seeds per cell, then remove the weakest one after germination. If using 3 inch cells, sow three seeds per cell, keeping the strongest one.

Follow the directions on the seed packet for light exposure and temperature. Tender seedlings can be set outdoors in the sun, then brought indoors at night.

Before the seedlings are to be planted in the garden, harden them off, whether you grew them or they came from a nursery. A cold frame is the ideal place, where they are covered and protected at night.

Prepare your garden beds using fertilizer as shown by a soil test, plus lime, to bring the pH to that mandated by the plant, and compost or peat moss for organic matter.

Seeds marked to plant out as early in the spring as the ground can be worked can be planted when the soil is no longer soggy and won't clump when worked. Be sure that danger of frost is past.

Don't rush the season, If plants are chilled, time is wasted before they regain their vigor.

Compliments of Margaret C. Crooks, Garden Writer
 

• Fertilize perennials. Lime as soil test shows need.
• Prune roses when vegetative buds swell. Fertilize and lime as test shows need.
• Fend off hungry rabbits with dried blood, a commercial repellent or a mulch of prickly prunings.
• Plant dormant roses, lilies, perennial and biennial plants.
• Enjoy blooming snowdrops, squills, crocus, hellebores, primroses, heaths.
• Start seeds of tender vegetables needing 10 to 12 weeks before settling out.
• Plant hardy seeds marked "as early in the spring as the ground can be worked" as soon as a handful of soil from a spade's depth will crumble rather than making a soggy ball.
• Root cuttings of sweet potatoes on a sunny windowsill.
• Fertilize asparagus.