Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Fertilizing Spring Bulb Flowers

 Spring will be a glorious season with many flower blooms provided you fertilize.  Fertilization will make sure that the flowers grow strong and thrive in your gardens. 

 

AI created by Sgolis / spring gardening 

My spring bulbs are established in my garden with no new plantings in the fall.  However, I always fertilize in the fall after the flower beds are cut back to the soil line and all weeds are removed from the bed.  I will fertilize with bonemeal. And apply it to the soil where I have planted my spring bulbs. I will top the fertilizer with a layer of soil and water. Then before winter comes I will add a layer of mulch.

 


Then in the spring when I remove the winter season debris and any remaining leaves, and mulch/ If I see that the spring bulbs have broken the soil line I will give the flowers a spring growing boost by fertilizing them with bonemeal topped with soil and replace the mulch around the spring bulb stems to help retain hydration and to prevent weed growth. 


 

Care for your spring flowers by letting the foliage die back naturally.  Do not prune the leaves as the leaves are a way for the plant to replenish energy and nutrients for next spring's blooming season.

 

I use Espoma Organic Bone Meal Fertilizer 4-12-0. An All-Natural Plant Food Source of Nitrogen and Phosphorus and I bought it at Amazon.  bone meal is a slow-release fertilizer that takes 4-6 weeks to start working so apply it as soon as you see new spring growth in early winter so the mid-spring blooms will be beautiful. 

Mid-Season Flower Bed Clean Up

Today the temperature was warm and since the snow had melted my husband and I took advantage of the weather and worked to clean up the yard and gardens.   Normally our flower bed clean-up begins in March but this year we got a break in the weather and were able to get many garden chores accomplished.



In the fall we had removed the leaves and sticks from the lawn and gardens but since then the leaves from our maple tree finally fell and the yard and gardens were covered again.

  My husband raked all of the backyard gardens and to our surprise, we saw that the spring flower had broken the soil line.   I am so thankful that we were able to rake and remove the leaves because now the flowers will be able to get sun and better hydration when it rains.

Snowdrops and crocus are blooming and soon the daffodils and tulips will emerge.  I felt excitement when I saw all the greenery in the garden when we removed the leaves.  Spring is coming soon.





We had some topsoil in the shed so I added that to the gardens to fill where there was runoff.  And I took note as to where I will need to add mulch.  Tomorrow we will be pruning the dead branches and plan to remove any weed growth in the garden beds.   After weeds are removed I will fertilize.