READERS’ TIPS
Mark your tulip bulbs for transplant time
This week, we present two great tips. The first is from David Selzer of Loveland.
If your tulips are getting out of control and you want to move some of them to different locations, you have to wait until the foliage has withered and dropped so the flower can store the energy it needs for the next year’s bloom.
When that eventually happens, do you remember where those bulbs really were and what color the tulip was?
Here is how to deal with those questions. When the tulips that you want to move are in full bloom, mark the color on a popsicle stick and put the stick in the ground at the base of the tulip. In the fall, look for the sticks above the bulbs you want to move. Let the color on the stick be your guide as to where you want to locate the moved bulbs.
Overturned trashcan lid makes for easy potting cleanup
The second comes from Linda Zotos of Castle Rock.
When I am potting plants or mixing dirt, I turn the lid over from my round trash can in the garage and use that for a working surface.
I either leave it on top of the trash can and work at counter height or put it on the garage floor and get down on my hands and knees. When I am finished, I simply take the lid over and dump it into the trash can. It saves a lot of sweeping and cleaning up. Works well too when trimming houseplants and collecting all the debris.
READ IT
Pumpkin tales will enthrall gardeners
Gardeners who spend their summers obsessed over the success of small-time crops like tomatoes and zucchini will get caught up in this tale of growing great pumpkins. Susan Warren’s “Backyard Giants” (Bloomsbury, $24.95) serves up intimate portraits of folks who will risk everything to grow the biggest gourd on the block. This book is an entertaining caution for keeping it all in perspective.
Got a garden tip? Share it with Grow. E-mail your good ideas to Grow@denverpost.com. We’ll print the best ones and give the tipster a pair of Sloggys garden clogs, courtesy of Sloggers Garden Outfitters.
