How to save whats left of my bulbs?

I am so frustrated.

First it was the rains that evidently rotted my Ranunculus Tecolote bulbs and I can't remember what else I had planted that it rotted, I have several bare spots that never came up and I had my bed planted to the last inch.

While it rained, the rabbits continued to feed on what did come up, all bulbs that I paid money for, they haven't touched the annuals of course. I had planned on getting some liquid fence, but it kept raining so that was pointless.

To top it all off, the soil that we bought for this new bed has NO nutrients in it. My DH insisted that the two loads of composted cottonseed hulls would give it plenty of nutrients. WRONG! The only lilies that the rabbits left alone came up in the middle of some potatoes (I thought I had planted beside them) and they only reached a total height of about 1 foot. Quite a few plants had a sickly yellow color until the rabbits decided they were good enough to eat too, which was another indicator that there simply wasn't enough nutrients in the soil.

Now it is so hot the bed is baking with no foliage to keep it cool. It was supposed to be a full sun bed. The only thing that looks great is the vinca and rock rose that I planted.

At this juncture..... since we need soil to fill in a large hole in the yard and some ruts that my husband made with the tractor while the ground was soggy, we are going to tear this bed down and use this useless soil for that purpose. We also have a problem with drainage in the yard that we will have to re-grade, using part of this soil. So the bed has to go.

How should I save my bulbs? Should I dig them out, brush them off and keep them in the fridge until it cools off? It's so hot outside that I really don't know that it will be a good idea to plant them again this year......especially since we don't have the rabbit problem taken care of yet.

I dug up one of the bulbs that looked dead from above the ground and it looked like it might be OK. I think I'd better do something soon or I will lose them all.

Another thing, I plan on doing some Lasagna gardening this fall. Is this a good idea for bulbs? I know that some bulbs prefer sandy soil but I don't know if they are all that way. I don't know much about bulbs so I'm coming to you professionals. ;-)

Thanks for any help I can get.
Sherri

Not a bulb expert, but I'd say dig the bulbs (now or in fall) IF they have NO foliage and store them in a fridge. IF they have ANY foliage, leave them until the foliage turns brown... that gives the bulb some oomph for next year.

Any bulbs you dig that haven't any foliage may not produce flowers next year but they may survive and do well the following year.

Just my 2¢ worth...

Thanks Darius, that's pretty much what I was thinking, I just wanted someone else's opinion too. It's ok if they don't flower next year, I just want them to survive. I'm thinking about moving the ones with foliage to a bin and putting them on my deck where I can baby them. That way I can keep the rabbits from decimating the rest of them and we can go ahead and tear that bed apart.

Sherri,

I agree with Darius but would also like to suggest that since we still have plenty of growing time left here in OK replant any of the bulbs that look alive in either pots or a well drained area. Most bulbs do not like to sit in moist soil and this summer has really done a number on them.

If I may also suggest, before planting in a new area of the lovely OK red clay you might want to try any of the following to improve the drainage of the soil.

A raised bed; tilling grass clippings into the soil - this will both feed the soil and loosen it up; mixing peat moss or any other organic materials (like compost). Whatever you do don't mix sand with your soil. Sand + red clay = concrete.

I have been gardening here in OK for 14yrs. now and have really mastered the soil, climate fluctuations, etc. I have created many mini gardens within larger ones where there are special enviroments or micro-climates to encourage the survival of plants from zones 8-10. I have had a number of native Oklahomans see things in my garden and comment, "That's not supposed to be able to grow here!" I tell them that as long as I don't tell my plants that they do just fine.

If you ever get into the Moore area please feel free to stop and tour the garden. I love to pass along plants to visitors.

Julia

Julia, I am actually in the Moore area quite often. Or at least 2 or 3 times a year. My FIL lives in Norman and we try to visit them once in awhile. If I can and have time, I'll let you know next time we go through there. I'd love to see your gardens.

Thankfully, I don't have to deal with that red clay. What I do have to deal with is an upper area of the yard that my dad built out of shale, gray clay, regular brown dirt and trash (old sheet metal, culvert, siding, etc, really fun to dig around.... enough to make a saint want to cuss), and a huge lower area that needs to be resculpted because part of it is a swamp when it rains. It doesn't drain into the ditch very well. We'll wait until this winter to do that so I can't do much until spring in that area.

My biggest problem, no matter how I look at it, is those darned rabbits. In the spring, especially this spring as you well know, it rains enough that putting out liquid fence is pointless. By the time it quits raining, the damage is done. I live in the country so killing them off is not an option, they will just be back. It would probably help for awhile, but I'd rather find another solution. I'm thinking about using plants that they hate and circling them around the ones that they like. Maybe that would deter them naturally. They have plenty of other stuff to eat around here.

I'm looking into xeriscaping the upper area since it's so dry. Nothing wants to grow in that shale (imagine that). I saw on one of Terry's posts that she likes to just dig a hole and amend the soil in that one spot instead of digging out the whole bed. That's pretty much what I did in the current garden I have there and the drought tolerant plants are doing great, but I want to expand that since the shale wraps around the entire edge of the upper yard. Even the bermuda grass is avoiding it, and I thought bermuda would invade anything.

In the meantime, I don't have room to put those bulbs in the fridge anyway and I think you're right, I need to put them in tubs of soil until I can get them replanted this fall. I have no idea where I'm going to put them. I'm thinking about giving them away, but I don't know what kind of shape they are truly in.

Julia: You might try
moth balls around in
different places
because rabbits were
eating my plants &
it seems to work for
me & I buy them at
the dollar stores.

I used to have big
holes about the size
of pennies in my
caladiums until I
used moth balls &
now the slugs have
left them alone.

Sherri,

I too live in the country and have an overabundence of rabbits. Some winters they have even 'pruned' my rose bushes. I have never had a problem with rabbits bothering any of my bulbs. Maybe the fact that I have @800 other plants for them to nibble on is anough of a distraction??

rebel, that would be a quick and easy solution. I might try that for a little while, along with heavy mulch and lots of water. I still have to break the bed down though in the fall, but that would give me a little time to see if I can get any foliage out of some of them. I think I'm going to give them a good dose of plant food since there isn't anything in the soil for them.

Patternmaker, I don't know why these rabbits decided my bulbs were gourmet food but they did. I've actually watched them out there chomping away, so I know they are the ones doing it. I don't have nearly as many plants as you do. I guess that's why.

I have a great rabbit guard cat. She's smaller than most of the would be flower munchers,but she doesn't know that. If its raining...she guards from the front or back porch and only goes out if the need arises. I buy her the best cat food I can and consider it small price to pay for the guard duty she perfoms. :)

I'll bet she's a cutie. :-)

My inlaws told me today that they use blood meal and sometimes bone meal for repellent. They said it really worked for them.

Idieffen...can I borrow your cat for a while? :-D
The rabbits here have me beside myself...I'm scared to death to plant the bulbs I've ordered for this fall, and it's too cold here in Wisconsin to rely on container plantings for things I dearly want to keep.

I really empathize with you Cherish. We had the same wet weather here...and obviously, the rabbits have nearly done me in, too. (I resorted to the B-B gun...but all that did was train them to listen for me to load the dang thing. LOL)

OH...I did find some pellets that actually *DO* seem to work as a repellent as long as I don't try to cultivate my flower beds. I think it's called "Rabbits No More" or something like that. It seemed to work even after a rain, but it was so expensive per bag that I figured I could replace the plants instead.

Best of luck on those bulbs.

~julie~
(P.S. I grew up in Tulsa and know all about the "concrete" soils!)

Actually Julie, the blood meal seems to be working. I've had it down for about a week and I've not seen one rabbit in there. Walmart carries it in their gardening department with the fertilizers. It was about $5.00 for the box and I used about half of it. I'll probably need to reapply in a couple of weeks or so.

Cherish...I *will* try that. (Sounds cheaper than the B-Bs (grin))
~julie~

Rabbits - I had a problem with those critters that was so bad you could see them in the yard any time you looked... then along came Boomer a part Beagle about 2 years old. He just appeared one day and acted a fool he was so proud he found me. His first mission was to rid the area of rabbits, squirrels and anything else "wild". I had a bit of a problem teaching him not to chase the "cats that came to live under the porch" and occasionally he dug a hole in my flower bed, but without him I couldn't have a flower bed. I sprayed him with water from a hose when I caught him and soon he got the message. Dogs can be a gardner's best friend!!!